SAN DIEGO — Andy Pages, arguably the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most consistent hitter this season, was in an early hole against baseball’s best closer Tuesday night.An 0-2 count was not ideal in a tie game against San Diego Padres flamethrower Mason Miller. However, that didn’t seem to shake Pages, who had already seen the best of Miller’s arsenal.Pages’ conviction that he could beat Miller at Petco Park set the stage for what star teammate Freddie Freeman called “one of the greatest at-bats I’ve ever seen in person, and I’ve been playing a long time.” Pages forced nine pitches from Miller — four sliders and five fastballs. On the final 101.5 mph offering, he sent a line-out the other way to set up a bang-bang play at the plate and give the Dodgers the lead on their way to a 5-4 victory and first place in the NL West.“In my mind, I never thought he was going to strike me out or dominate me,” Pages said in Spanish. “I was 100 percent certain I was going to move the ball forward.”As exhilarating as their comeback was, the emergence of Pages as the Dodgers’ next star excites the back-to-back champs more.After a rocky start at the position last season, Pages has turned himself into an elite center fielder. He’s also helped stabilize the bottom half of the Dodgers’ order. His 53 hits and 42 RBIs lead the team, and his 10 homers are second to only Max Muncy’s 12. Nearly 50 percent of balls he’s put into play have qualified as hard-hit, and his slugging percentage is above .500.