LOS ANGELES — Corey Seager set foot into Dodger Stadium on Tuesday and said the memories came back in a flood.
For everybody else, the vision of what once was returned in a torrent on Wednesday night.
Playing in his first regular-season game inside his former ballpark as a visiting player, Seager hit a three-run home run and the Texas Rangers went on to a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers.
It was all so familiar. Small step with the right foot. Back leg bent, Hips turned. Bat through the zone. The swing that provided so much offense for the Dodgers now worked against them as Seager hit his 60th career home run at Dodger Stadium.
Asked Tuesday about his emotions when he left the Dodgers via free agency after the 2021 season, Seager said he really couldn’t remember. Then he admitted that was a path that he would rather not travel.
Instead of words, it was all about actions Wednesday. Seager’s home run even came after he had missed his previous four games with a left hamstring strain. Neither days nor years could deter Seager in his first game back, other than an at-bat in the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.
After receiving a smattering of applause before each of his first two at-bats Wednesday, boos resonated when he came to the plate in the seventh inning and he struck out against Blake Treinen. By then, though, his statement had been made.
Seager’s home run even outshined one from Shohei Ohtani, who went deep in the first inning. The Dodgers tried to overcome Seager’s home run in the bottom of the ninth while down two runs with Gavin Lux and Andy Pages on base against Rangers right-hander Kirby Yates.
Jason Heyward hit a line drive into the right-center field gap and while Lux scored, Pages ran through third base coach Dino Ebel’s stop sign and was thrown out at home plate for the final out.
Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler did not allow a run over his first four innings, even getting a visit from a trainer during that time for what appeared to be upper-leg discomfort.
In the fifth, Buehler gave up a one-out single to Leody Tavers before Marcus Semien reached base on a fielding error by new arrival Cavan Biggio.
Related Articles
Dodgers trade for infield depth, adding Cavan Biggio from the Blue Jays
Alexander: Dodgers are rolling again, but it’s all about October
Dodgers dismantle Rangers with 5 homers in 15-run outburst
Rangers’ Corey Seager sits in regular-season return to Dodger Stadium
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez named NL Player of the Week
After he was acquired in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier Wednesday, Biggio made his Dodgers debut at third base.
The fielding miscue proved costly when Seager hit a full-count fastball from Buehler more than halfway up the bleachers in right field.
Buehler (1-4) gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits over five innings with a walk and two strikeouts. In seven starts since missing nearly two years following his second Tommy John surgery, Buehler has a 4.64 ERA.
At the plate, Biggo went 1 for 3 as he began his run as the left-handed hitting third baseman scheduled to face right-handed pitching until Max Muncy returns from an oblique injury.
In a sign of just how things changed for the Dodgers’ offense in a 24-hour period, Mookie Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman all struck out in the eighth inning against 39-year-old Rangers right-hander David Robertson.
More to come on this story.
Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, left, tags out the Dodgers’ Andy Pages as he tries to score the tying run for the final out of the Rangers’ 3-2 win on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)