LOS ANGELES — Teoscar Hernández already has a World Series ring, but no one really dreams of getting a ring the way he did. The Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder spent much of the 2017 season in the minor leagues, playing one big league game for the Houston Astros before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays midway through the season. Receiving a World Series ring with the team that signed him out of the Dominican Republic and developed him might be meaningful, but it would leave anyone wanting more. Hernández is on the brink of more after hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer off Carlos Rodon in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers are up 2-0 on the Yankees in the series and Hernández seems to have hit his stride once again after going just 2-for-22 in the NLCS. “It was special, not only for me personally, but because I put the team in front,” Hernández said after the Dodgers’ 4-2 win. “For me, I always say it, I don’t care how I do as long as the team wins. That’s what matters for me. In this World Series, just trying to do the things that I know how to do and just help the team.” Hernández is coming off a career year with the Dodgers, having posted his best marks in some key areas, including home runs with 33. His 137 OPS+ is the highest since 2020 and second-highest of his career and he became an All-Star for the second time. The Dodgers are primarily batting him cleanup and he’s managed to clean up in the series so far, going 3-for-8 with the two-run homer. Whether it’s the way he’s been pitched, his approach against the Yankees or just pure luck, Hernández has always slugged against the pinstripes. His 17 regular-season home runs are the third-most against any opponent (23 against the Boston Red and 22 against the Tampa Bay Rays). Six seasons in the same division will allow a player to pick up on tendencies from opposing pitchers. When he returned to the Bronx for the first time as a member of the Dodgers, he went 6-for-12 with three home runs in three games against the Yankees in June. Game 2 was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third Friday night. Rodon gave up a second-inning homer to NLCS MVP Tommy Edman before Juan Soto countered with his own off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the top of the third. Rodon got the first two outs of the inning before Mookie Betts extended it with a single to left field, bringing up Hernández. The left-hander threw him two fastballs, the first one well above the zone for ball one, and the second right over the heart of the plate. He barreled it up, smoking it 392 feet over the right-center field fence at nearly 108 MPH for his third postseason homer this month. “My first at-bat, I missed it a little bit, fastball, up and away. Then I go to my next at-bat, and just stay above it and just trying to hit it to right-center,” he said. “I hit a line drive to right-center. It went a little farther than that.” The Dodgers will take the extra distance. Freddie Freeman then hit his second of the series to keep the two-out rally going. The momentum swung wildly from one team to another, but back-to-back home runs by Los Angeles were enough to stymie the Yankees in the middle innings. The three runs were enough separation. The Yankees made a push in the ninth inning by scoring one against Blake Treinen when Giancarlo Stanton hit one off the third base bag to score Soto. They loaded the bases on Treinen with one out, threatening to send the game into extra innings for a second straight night. But that was all the Yankees could manage. Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe and pinch-hitter Jose Trevino popped out to center field for the final out. “You don’t want that to happen, where you score one and the other team comes back and scores, ties the game, or just scores more than one run, but we just have to keep pushing,” Hernández said. “That’s what we put in our minds. It doesn’t matter how many they score, we can score, and we know that… “You just go, fight [through] your at-bat, try to get on base for the guy behind you.” The offseason acquisition of Hernández has been huge for the Dodgers. Adding him to a haul that included Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto turned the Dodgers into the super team they aspired to become. Hernández and his agent, Rafa Nieves, sought a three-year deal last winter but when that didn’t come, they looked for a contending team. Nieves posted a recap on X after the NLDS, saying he earned more money on the one-year contract than he would have with a three-year deal with bonuses, a home run derby win and some various tax benefits. Now, he’ll be a free agent again after his best year yet. The money will come, and potentially the ring too.