The first time Dodgers fans saw Corey Seager in the dugout this week, they cheered.
The first time they saw the former Dodger shortstop on the field, however, Seager gave them no choice but to boos.
In his first game as a visiting player at Dodger Stadium – three years since leaving the franchise that drafted him, where he became a first-time All-Star and World Series champion – Seager led the Texas Rangers to a 3-2 victory, which delivered the decisive blow in his first game back from a hamstring injury with a three-run home run off Walker Buehler in the fifth inning.
“We missed him,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after Seager missed the previous five games. “It’s good to have him back.”
His old club couldn’t say the same.
The Dodgers nearly saved the game in the ninth inning, when Jason Heyward nearly tied the score on a double with two runners on board. But the trail runner, Andy Pages, was thrown out at home on a blast at the plate after running through a stop sign by third base coach Dino Ebel.
The Dodgers called for a challenge to see if Rangers catcher Jonah Heim blocked the plate. But after a video review, the call was confirmed.
Game is over.
Another night at Dodger Stadium decided by Seager’s swing.
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“It sucks that he’s my buddy and cut me,” Buehler said of Seager, his former Dodgers teammate before the Rangers signed him for $325 million two winters ago. ‘But in the end, people don’t just spend 300 million. He’s as good as it gets in this game.”
Twenty-four hours earlier, Seager was welcomed to a warm reception at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday, where he received a video tribute and extended ovation from his former fan base before the start of this week’s three-game series.
However, Seager did not play in that game due to a hamstring injury.
It wasn’t until Wednesday that Seager actually returned to the lineup. And in his second at-bat, he reminded his old club exactly what they let get away.
With the Dodgers leading by one in the fifth inning thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s 17th home run in the first inning, Seager came to bat with two on – one on an error by newly acquired Cavan Biggio, who started at third base – and got in a full-on battle with Buehler.
The first payoff: a slider that Seager fouled.
Next: a dead red fastball up center.
Seager didn’t miss.
With an explosive swing and a two-handed finish – the same silhouette that defined Seager’s decorated Dodgers career – the slugger fired home three runs deep into the right-field pavilion.
“I tried to go in,” said Buehler, who gave up no other runs in a five-inning, seven-hit, two-strikeout start, “and kind of leave it at the plate.”
The blast was Seager’s 13th home run of the season. It was the 60th long ball of his career at Dodger Stadium. And in what was almost certainly a first for the 30-year veteran, it sparked a reaction unlike anything he’d ever received at Dodger Stadium.
Angry. Many of them.
“I think it kind of comes with the territory,” Seager said after the game with an embarrassed grin. “I mean, I don’t blame them. I understand.”
The Rangers’ 3–1 lead held until the ninth, when the Dodgers fell just short for a final comeback on Pages’ close call at the plate.
With two on and two outs, Heyward doubled to center field, easily scoring Will Smith from second, and was bobbled by the Rangers’ Leody Taveras in center field.
After starting the action at first base, Pages saw the bobble and then decided to go for the tying run.
What Pages didn’t see: Ebel held up a one-handed stop sign at third base and ran right past the base coach on his way to an ejection after an impressive relay play by Rangers infielder Marcus Semien.
“As soon as I saw that the midfielder played it a little wrong, all I thought about was scoring that equalizing point,” Pages said in Spanish. “You learn from those things. Unfortunately, those things have to happen before you get better.”
Manager Dave Roberts said Dodgers coaches weren’t upset with Pages, the 22-year-old rookie outfielder who has given the club some much-needed production at the bottom of the lineup.
After all, it was Pages’ two-out walk that even allowed Heyward to get the bat.
“It’s one thing to be defiant and run through a stop sign when you see it, and there’s another thing to try to make a play and be aggressive, see the ball in the outfield, and that’s what he did,” Roberts says. said, noting that the Rangers still had to execute their relay perfectly to get him. “It’s certainly not a reprimand situation. It’s just a learning experience.”
One that also ensured Seager’s boo-inducing explosion remained the game-clinching blow.
“He certainly deserves all the applause from Dodgers fans, he helped us win a championship,” Roberts said of his former shortstop. “But he also deserved those boos after the three-run homer.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
