With 3-homer game, Smith states his case for recognition

LOS ANGELES -- The reserves for the All-Star Game will be announced on Sunday, and all signs point toward Dodgers catcher Will Smith making his second appearance in the Midsummer Classic.

His numbers leading up to Friday’s game were already good enough. But just to erase any possible doubt, Smith delivered one of the best games of his career, launching three homers against the Brewers, including a game-tying solo blast off the foul pole in the seventh inning to help the Dodgers beat Milwaukee, 8-5, at Dodger Stadium.

Smith became just the fourth catcher in franchise history with a three-homer game, joining Hall of Famers Roy Campanella and Mike Piazza, as well as Yasmani Grandal, who accomplished the feat almost eight years to the date on July 8, 2016. He also became the second Dodger to hit three homers in a game this season, joining Max Muncy, who did it on May 4 against the Braves.

“Those are obviously really good catchers, some of the best to ever do it,” Smith said. “Just to be mentioned with them in something is pretty neat."

Over the last month, Smith hasn’t had the same impact offensively as the Dodgers have grown accustomed to since he became the everyday catcher in 2020. He had homered just twice since the start of June.

Still, when Smith gets inside the box, he’s one of the most feared offensive-minded catchers in the league. That was evidenced in the eighth inning, as the Brewers could have elected to go with left-hander Hoby Milner to face Shohei Ohtani with one out in the frame.

Given Smith’s dominant showing up to that point, however, the Brewers couldn’t afford to let the Dodgers catcher face another left-hander, giving Ohtani the opportunity to face the righty. Ohtani ended up grounding out and Smith, instead of trying to expand the strike zone in order to try and hit a fourth homer, took a walk that set up Freddie Freeman’s go-ahead two-run single. It was Smith's second walk of the game, meaning he reached in all five of his plate appearances.

“Will had a heck of a night,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He’s just so consistent and he just doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves of being one of the top two catchers in the game. But today, he came up big, and until that eighth inning, it was all him, essentially.”

Along with Smith, the Dodgers’ two Cuban-born outfielders, Andy Pages and Miguel Vargas, did work in the middle frames. Pages got on base twice, continuing an impressive rookie season. Vargas, who will get more playing time with Jason Heyward on the injured list, reached base safely three times and hit his second homer, a two-run blast in the fourth that helped the Dodgers cut their deficit to one run.

“I thought the young kids had a good night tonight,” Roberts said. “Andy continues to grow and shine and Vargas really had a big night for us, too. Up and down, one through nine, well played.”

In the eighth, it was Freeman and Tesocar Hernández that did the damage. Both Freeman and Hernández seem to come up in big spots consistently, and more often than not, they end up coming through in a big way.

Freeman came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs against Milner. After falling behind in the count, Freeman took a borderline pitch in a 1-2 count. On the next pitch, Freeman stayed back on a Milner sweeper and grounded it into center field to give the Dodgers the two-run lead, completing another late comeback. Hernández provided insurance with an RBI double.

“His ability to not have any moment get too big,” Roberts said of Freeman. “He just grinds and competes and he has a way to put the ball in play and wanting to be that guy. He’s done it for us time and time again.”

After a disappointing couple of series against the Giants and D-backs, the Dodgers wanted to get off to a good start against the NL Central-leading Brewers, a team that is also fighting for postseason position.

They needed a big performance from someone. Smith delivered exactly that.

“He’s been quietly one of the engines that run the ship over there that’s been pretty successful,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “He has maybe the most important job on the team.”