The Los Angeles Dodgers have aggressively managed rest days for Will Smith this season, and one of those came Wednesday night as he was not in the lineup against the San Diego Padres.
Manager Dave Roberts noted Smith was going to start in three of the four games anyhow, and the preference was to avoid having him catch a third day in a row.
Smith ultimately wound up playing a key role in the game, as he pinch-hit for Kiké Hernández and hit a walk-off home run.
“It’s awesome. Walk-off homer is really fun. They’re exciting, the crowd loves them and it’s fun to go home with fireworks and everything. It’s cool,” Smith said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 win.
Smith’s blast also extended his streak of scoring a run to eight consecutive games. That’s tied with Shohei Ohtani (March 18-April 2) for longest such stretch by a Dodgers player this season, and it’s tied with Mike Piazza (Aug. 21-29, 1995) for the longest run-scoring streak by one of the franchise’s catchers.
Meanwhile, it also was the Dodgers’ 27th comeback win this season, which is most among all teams.
“We just keep fighting. Keep putting up good at-bats, keep pressure on the other team. That’s what we try to do,” Smith said. “Put pressure on them, and when they mess up, we try to capitalize.”
The walk-off home run additionally extended the Dodgers’ winning streak to five games and came in the midst of playing National League West opponents.
“It’s definitely been a long few weeks playing some really good ballclubs, dealing with injuries and everything. We’re just sticking together as a team, grinding through it one day at a time, trying to fill up the strike zone with our pitchers and take good at-bats as hitters. Just try to play good baseball and see what happens.”
Will Smith sets Dodgers record
The pinch-hit, walk-off home run was Smith’s third of his career, which broke a tie with Rick Monday for most in Dodgers franchise history.
“Fortunately, I’ve had a few walk-off homers. It’s hard to top those,” Smith said.
Monday hit his pinch-hit, walk-off homers for the Dodgers on June 2, 1980 (vs. Cincinnati Reds) and May 20, 1981 (vs. Philadelphia Phillies).
Prior to Wednesday night, Smith’s two previous game-winning home runs as a pinch-hitter came as a rookie on June 23, 2019 (vs. Colorado Rockies) and July 20, 2021 (vs. San Francisco Giants).
Overall, Smith now has seven career walk-off RBI and each of his pinch-hit home runs have been game-winners.
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