LOS ANGELES — When the call came, Andy Pages slept through it.
It wasn’t until after midnight that Pages woke up and answered his phone. His Triple-A Oklahoma City manager Travis Barbary was on the other line telling him to pack up and head to the airport in the morning. The Dodgers had called him up to make his major-league debut on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
“I don’t know what time the first call came, but the first call that I picked up was at midnight,” Pages said in Spanish. “I think they started calling me like at nine o’clock.”
Once he got the news, the Cuban-born Pages’ first call was to his mother, Juana Maria, in Cuba.
“She started waking up everyone that lives in our neighborhood and obviously she did cry,” Pages said. “But I told her to stay calm because we’re finally in the big leagues, which is where she’s always wanted me to be.”
Pages, 23, showed the potential to get here for some time. But his career was sidetracked when he injured his left shoulder in his first game after being promoted to Triple-A last May. Surgery ended his season but Pages showed in spring training that he had fully recovered, going 8 for 17 in seven Cactus League games with a double, a triple and two home runs.
“Really surprised. Pleasantly surprised,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s a lot of hitters that hurt that lead arm and it affects their swing considerably. So for him to rebound speaks, obviously, to how much commitment he put into the rehab process. He’s in great shape, as good of shape as he’s ever been in, and put in a lot of work. So it’s a pleasant surprise.”
Pages said he had a single focus during those months of rehab.
“The first thing that came to my mind from the moment I got hurt, I put my mind to working hard to get to the big leagues as fast as possible,” Pages said.
He carried his hot spring into the start of the Triple-A season. At the time of his promotion, he was among the top three in the Pacific Coast League in hits (23, first), runs scored (16, second), OPS (1.146, third) and home runs (five, tied for third).
He had an eight-game hitting streak going with seven multi-hit games, five home runs, 14 RBIs and 10 runs scored while going 18 for 35.
Roberts put him in the lineup Tuesday, sitting James Outman against Washington Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin. But Roberts said the right-handed Pages will be in the lineup on Wednesday as well against Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin.
“I’ll try to get him in as much as I can to see what we have,” Roberts said.
What the Dodgers have is a top-heavy lineup. The sixth through ninth spots in the lineup carried a combined .187 batting average into Tuesday’s game with four players (Chris Taylor, James Outman, Kiké Hernandez and Gavin Lux) batting below .190 with an OPS-plus well under 100 (major-league average).
But Roberts said the call to Pages has less to do with trying to find some offensive production from the bottom half of the lineup and more to do with Jason Heyward’s uncertain timeline in his recovery from a back injury.
“I think, certainly, that’s been the case. I don’t expect it to continue at this clip,” Roberts said of the bottomless lineup. “But really the driver is Jason not being around. That’s why we went out and got (Taylor) Trammell initially, because we thought it was gonna be a shorter-term stint. But as each day passes, it just seems longer. So this seemed like a good opportunity to give Andy.”
Trammell was designated for assignment in order to clear a roster spot for Pages. Trammell was hitless in six at-bats with three strikeouts in his limited time with the Dodgers.
OKC SHUTTLE
The Dodgers continued to shuffle their pitching staff, promoting right-handers Kyle Hurt and Eduardo Salazar on Tuesday and bringing Landon Knack to Los Angeles as well. Knack is expected to be added to the active roster and start Wednesday’s game – his major-league debut.
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Hurt made his first big-league start as the ‘opener’ in Tuesday’s bullpen game. Salazar was 1-0 with an 8.03 ERA in eight relief appearances for the Cincinnati Reds last season, his only big-league experience. With OKC this season, Salazar was 1-0 with a 2.37 ERA in 15⅔ innings over three starts.
To make room for Hurt and Salazar, the Dodgers sent right-hander Ricky Vanasco (who made his major-league debut on Monday) and left-hander Nick Ramirez back to Triple-A. The two combined for four scoreless innings in Monday’s loss to the Nationals.
ALSO
Right-hander Walker Buehler will make another rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday. Buehler is expected to throw 80 to 85 pitches after having his rehab start last week stopped after two innings when he was hit in the hand by a comebacker. The next step for Buehler is “contingent” on how Thursday goes and how he feels afterward, Roberts said.
UP NEXT
Nationals (RHP Jake Irvin, 0-1, 4.24 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Landon Knack, MLB debut), Wednesday, 12:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM