LOS ANGELES – Little has come easy for the Los Angeles Dodgers for months, largely of their own doing. Generating any tangible momentum has been difficult and fleeting. Kiké Hernández has felt that. His third return to Los Angeles has not been fruitful. He woke up Saturday morning amid the worst offensive season of his career, but he was greeted with an accomplishment: His wife, Mariana, had thrown together a celebration with his friends and family to commemorate the veteran’s 10 years of major-league service.
By night’s end, he was a hero twice over, slugging a tying home run in the ninth inning and stroking a tying single an inning later as the Dodgers rallied to a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Boston Red Sox. The afternoon was frenetic. The Dodgers bullpen twice blew leads. Their closer coughed up a two-run home run. They fumbled a bases-loaded rally on a check-swing double play.
Not much has come easy. For Hernández, it was rewarding nonetheless.
“I’m just really glad that this happened and I was able to come through,” Hernández said. “I haven’t really been able to come through that much this year.”
He struck a reflective tone. Perhaps it was because of the significance of the day and the longevity it means. Or it was an acknowledgment of a season that has not gone well. He noted the little circumstances that came with his momentous day — that his tying home run came off Kenley Jansen, the dominant closer he’d played behind for years in Los Angeles and then Boston, or that he reached 10 years in a game that featured two of the clubs with which he’d played all but 42 of his 1,129 major-league games.
A group gathered to celebrate Hernández at his home Saturday morning. His wife had prepared a video, splicing together testimonials from back home in Puerto Rico to those who had impacted each step of Hernández’s journey. Five Dodgers players will have reached the mark by year’s end, and each has found a way to find something special in it. The festivities lasted about an hour before Hernández returned to what had become his reality back in Los Angeles. The 32-year-old re-signed with the Dodgers after a maddening spell in free agency knowing most of his work would come in a part-time role. The Dodgers hoped that largely slotting Hernández against left-handed pitching would help him thrive again after an up-and-down 2 1/2 seasons as an everyday player in Boston.
KIKÉ KNEW. pic.twitter.com/QhzeBPgQDK
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 21, 2024
It hasn’t worked. Hernández entered Saturday with a .557 OPS, and a .582 OPS against left-handed pitching. The gap between the top and bottom of the Dodgers lineup has been wide. The stat line moves closer and closer under the magnifying glass by the day. Just 10 days remain until the trade deadline, and reinforcements are necessary.
“Kiké, it’s always tough for him because I think he sees himself in a certain light, which I think all players should,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I think that he’s understanding how he fits on this ballclub. A lot of our conversations we have is when you have that clarity or that kind of understanding, then you perform better. And so he’s got a certain role. I count on him a lot.”
Hernández was not in the starting lineup Saturday, entering in the seventh to face Red Sox lefty Cam Booser and whiffing on four pitches.
“I feel like I was like a fan, just fanning through, swinging and missing through pitches,” Hernández said.
He had witnessed countless Jansen save attempts, but he had faced him only once before stepping into the box to lead off the ninth inning. He had swung at the only pitch he saw, breaking his bat on a two-seam fastball and driving the pitch to left field for a flyout while Hernández was with the Red Sox and Jansen was with the Atlanta Braves in 2022. Jansen chided him then, telling him to keep trying to get to his trademark cutter.
That cutter could very well land Jansen in Cooperstown. And this time, Hernández did not need to look for much else. Jansen hasn’t used his two-seamer as much this year. Same with the slider.
“There’s no mystery to what Kenley’s trying to do,” Hernández said.
Jansen threw Hernández five cutters. Hernández swung through one and looked as another caught the inside corner. When Jansen’s final cutter broke back over the plate, Hernández connected. Euphoria followed.
It was the first home run Jansen had allowed in 134 batters this season.
“I was kind of blacked out,” Hernández said, “because it had been a while since I did something in a big moment in this stadium.”
It didn’t take long for the next. Hernández’s swing forced extra innings. That deadlock didn’t last a batter, as Tyler O’Neill launched his second go-ahead two-run homer of the night to regain Boston’s advantage. When Hernández’s turn came up again in the bottom half, the Dodgers trailed by a run and were down to their final out.
Hernández waited out sweeper after sweeper from righty reliever Greg Weissert before finding a sinker in the strike zone he could handle. He punched it up the middle, rounding first base and breaking for second to ensure Andy Pages could score safely.
When Will Smith won the game an inning later with a walk-off single, Roberts turned back to Hernández.
“I depend on him, and when he’s kind of in that mode of fighting … I mean those two ABs that he took late were huge at-bats,” Roberts said. “I see the ability, and it’s just getting that consistency night in and night out.”
For a night, at least — and a consequential one — Hernández was what the Dodgers have envisioned.
(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
