The first chapter of Andy Pages has been incredible

The latest triumph for Pages came Friday night against the Braves, with his first four-hit game in the major leagues, capped by a walk-off single in the 11th inning to finish off a 4-3 victory, the Dodgers' 10th win in 15 games since inserting Pages in their lineup.

"He's always trying to be a better player," said Teoscar Hernández, who homered earlier in the game. "Today he showed us that he's made for a big game."

"Every time he gets up there, it seems like he takes a good at-bat," manager Dave Roberts said. "The moment certainly doesn't get too big for him."

"In those moments, I try not to be to anxious," Pages said after his game-winner. "I've had experiences where I got a little bit out of character, but I just try to stay composed and do my job."

Friday was Pages' first four-hit game in the majors, but he had three four-hit games in the minors — for rookie-level Ogden in 2019, for High-A Great Lakes in 2021, and with Double-A Tulsa in 2022.

"It's awesome," said Gavin Stone, who started on the mound Friday and pitched six strong innings. "We came up together, and to see him thrive has been really, really fun to watch."

Since joining the Dodgers on April 16, Pages is tied for the team lead in RBI (11) and runs scored (12), he's second in hits (20) and extra-base hits (eight).

"I love the fight," Roberts said. "There were certainly some balls that were off the plate, and Jesse [Chavez] was trying to be very careful with him, but he wasn't going to let anyone else win that game for us tonight."

Pages is also fourth on the team in OPS and wRC+ in the last 15 games, behind the heavy hitters at the top of the lineup:

1. Mookie Betts 1.005 OPS, 192 wRC+
2. Shohei Ohtani .994 OPS, 189 wRC+
3. Will Smith 1.019 OPS, 179 wRC+
4. Andy Pages .921 OPS, 160 wRC+

That Pages is giving the Dodgers production from the bottom of the order — 80 percent of his plate appearances are batting either seventh, eighth, or ninth — provides life to a mostly dormant bottom third of the lineup that, entering Saturday, was hitting just .205/.272/.293, 25th in the majors in OPS. Believe it or not, that's a vast improvement from before Pages arrived.

"He's stabilized our lineup, added length. He's played very good defensively out there in center field and right field, and had good at-bat quality."

If there's a quibble with Pages at the moment, it's that he has no walks in 65 plate appearances. But he's not striking out a ton, his 20-percent rate better than average. Pages struck out nine times in his first 17 PA, but has only fanned four times in 48 PA since.

It helps that he's hitting .333/.364/.567, and he's hitting the ball hard (44.9 percent of his batted balls are 95+ mph), such that his expected numbers are a .296 batting average and .509 slugging percentage.

A spot for Pages opened up when Jason Heyward's back injury proved worse than expected, and Pages has seized the moment. There will be a point when Heyward returns — probably at least a week and a half away — and a roster decision will need to be made.

Sure Pages is still relatively inexperienced, with only 16 games at Triple-A before his 15 games in the majors. But he's doing everything to prove he belongs in the majors, and on the Dodgers he's not the only outfielder with options who could be sent out, man.

"Obviously, we believe in the player, the person. But you have to come up here and perform," Roberts said of Pages. "In a young player — he's 23 years old — you don't know what you have. Right now he's checking a lot of boxes and he's performing. He's creating his own opportunities."