Dodgers' Dave Roberts Refused to Bench Andy Pages, Who Rewarded Him With the Biggest Hit of the NLDS

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, and are facing off against the Milwaukee Brewers in a rematch of last year's NL Championship Series.

After dropping NLDS Game 2 at home, the Dodgers went into Atlanta and won two games to take the series.

The hero of Wednesday's Game 4 was Andy Pages, who hit the go-ahead, two-run, two-out single in the top of the seventh inning.

Just two games before, there were calls for the Dodgers to bench him amid his historic postseason struggles.

Dave Roberts didn't want to bench Andy Pages after Game 2 amid his playoff struggles:

"I believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we're gonna need him to be an active part of our team."

Safe to say Roberts' decision worked.

Heading into NLDS Game 3, Pages had 77 career postseason at-bats. He was hitting just .104 with a .343 OPS.

Among players with at least 80 postseason plate appearances, Pages' .343 OPS ranked 547th, near the very bottom. Pages' .148 on-base percentage and .104 batting average also ranked 547th.

There have been 548 hitters to take at least 80 plate appearances in MLB postseason history. Andy Pages’ ranks:

AVG: 547th (.104)BB: 547th (1)OBP: 547th (.148)SLG: 543rd (.195)OPS: 547th (.343)

However, when manager Dave Roberts was asked if he would bench Pages ahead of Game 3, he doubled down on his belief in the outfielder, who earned his first career All-Star selection this year at 25 years old.

"Yeah, this is one of those things that I'm gonna continue to give Andy leash. I believe in him," Roberts said at the time. "I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we're gonna need him to be an active part of our team. And so I hope it doesn't get to that point."

Suffice it to say, Roberts' move paid off.

Pages went 2-for-4 in Game 3 with a run scored. He then went 2-for-3 in Game 4, and had the team's biggest hit of the entire series.

“I like being in those at-bats,” Pages said to reporters in Spanish after the Game 4 win. “There are times the result comes, sometimes not, but I prepare to be in those spots. And today I was able to get the result.”

Pages, with the backing of his manager, now has all the confidence in the world heading into the NLCS. The Dodgers organization has all the confidence in him, too.

“Some guys are afraid of the ball, some guys aren’t,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “He is not. And his willingness to stick his nose in there allows him to stay on a pitch better and have an even better chance of winning.”

He added: “My favorite players are the ones where you just keep ripping up the sheet in terms of what the strengths are, what the goals are, and they just keep exceeding expectations. And Andy has definitely been that.”