The Los Angeles Dodgers received contributions from several players during their walk-off win on Saturday, but Kiké Hernández in particular was at the center of their comeback and walk-off win against the Boston Red Sox.
With the Dodgers trailing by one run in the ninth inning, Hernández hit a game-tying homer off former teammate Kenley Jansen. The utility man pounced on a cutter that caught too much of the zone and sent it into the left field pavilion.
Despite having only one at-bat against Jansen going into the matchup, Hernández knew the right-hander was going to try to beat him with a cutter, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I’ve played a lot behind Kenley,” Hernandez said. “I had only faced him once. … He broke my bat on a two-seamer and it went out to the warning track. This was in Atlanta in 2022.
“The whole way back to the dugout, he was yelling at me, ‘Keep cheating to the cutter. Keep cheating to the cutter.’ He’s not really throwing that two-seamer this year and there’s no mystery to what Kenley’s trying to do. … He gave me one to handle and I didn’t miss it.”
Hernández, who entered the game in the seventh inning, finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. He added a two-out, game-tying single in the 10th off Greg Weissert.
It was a big performance from the 32-year-old, who has struggled for the better part of the 2024 season:
“I’m just really glad that this happened and I was able to come through,” Hernandez said. “I haven’t really been able to come through that much this year.”
The home run Hernández hit was the first Jansen has surrendered this season. It also represented the second time in Hernández’s career he hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning or later.
Moreover, Hernández became the first player in MLB history to have a game-tying home run, tie the game with a hit and score the winning run all in the ninth inning or later on the same day.
Kiké Hernández reaches 10 years of service time
On top of delivering in clutch moments, Saturday was notable in that Hernández reached 10 years of Major League service time.
He joined Dodgers teammates Mookie Betts and Blake Treinen in achieving the milestone this season.
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