Andy Pages not injured; Dodgers appreciated Chris Taylor’s baserunning in extra innings against the Giants

Ed Szczepanski/USA TODAY Sports

Andy Pages reached base twice on Saturday but did not play as the Los Angeles Dodgers earned an extra-innings win over the San Francisco Giants.

Chris Taylor replaced Pages as the automatic runner at second base early in the 10th inning. Given Pages’ performance, there was concern that this decision was based on a possible injury.

However, this was not the impetus for the Dodgers to use Taylor as a backup runner for Pages, who has better sprint speed.

Accordingly Fabian Ardaya from The AthleticDodgers manager Dave Roberts said Pages did not suffer an injury and the team simply believed Taylor was the better option if there was a need to steal third base:

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Andy Pages is doing well, said Dave Roberts.

The reasoning: Although they are close in speed, he was more confident in Taylor’s ability to potentially steal a base if they couldn’t get the auto-runner to third base. https://t.co/JpjMz9T1tw

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 30, 2024

That ended up being a moot point, even though Taylor hit Jason Heyward’s flyout to start the inning. Miguel Rojas then gave the Dodgers the lead with an RBI single. Taylor later added an RBI base hit with the bat in the 11th inning.

Is Chris Taylor a better baserunner than Andy Pages?

Despite the success Pages had in his rookie season, there were several errors on the bases. He didn’t always make the best decisions and was last out at home plate, ending the game. Pages’ baserunning error was due to his failure to heed third base coach Dino Ebel’s stop sign.

“I saw the center fielder drop the ball and I just kept running,” Pages explained through an interpreter at the time. “I knew I would make it to third base no problem, but when I saw him drop the ball, I knew I was going to try to score no matter what because I knew I was the tying point.”

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