LOS ANGELES — Michael Grove showed every young baseball player out there what can be achieved if you work hard enough for it.

On Sunday, the Wheeling Park and West Virginia University alum lived out his childhood dream when he made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being promoted from Double-A Tulsa after several key injuries to the team’s pitching staff.

Grove sat down the first three Philadelphia Phillies’ hitters in order in the initial frame and secured his first career strikeout in the first, as well.

Though he pitched 3.2 innings, while allowing four hits, four runs, no earned runs, three walks and striking out three on 70 pitches, he didn’t figure in the decision.

“It was crazy,” Grove told SportsNet LA. “I was kind of floating in the first inning or so. They asked me afterwards, ‘Do you even remember the first batter?’ I was like, ‘Bits and pieces.’ I was just really excited for it. It’s awesome having my family and a couple of friends out here, too. It was awesome.”

While the first batter may still be hazy in Grove’s mind, it was the second batter that he will remember for the rest of his life.

Facing Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm, Grove fired a 95.3 MPH four-seam fastball with a 2-2 count to earn his first Major League strikeout.

“Memory-wise my first strikeout,” Grove said about what he’ll cherish the most. “I can’t really put it into words. It’s pretty cool. Bits and pieces are flying back since the adrenaline is wearing off. It was a lot of fun to be out there.”

While Grove did allow four runs, none of them were earned as an error with two outs in the second by second baseman Gavin Lux sparked a four-run stanza by the Phillies.

Grove did come back to pitch a scoreless third and got two outs in the fourth before reaching his pitch limit.

“It just happens,” Grove said of the error. “My job is to keep making pitches. Obviously guys like Gavin will make up for it at some point. He’ll probably pick me up down the stretch with a diving play or a double play or something like that. So you just have to keep pitching and try to clear your head.

“My job is to keep making pitches. In that inning I don’t think I did a great job of that after the error but the next couple of innings to just be able to put up a zero and get a couple more outs and get our bullpen a little deeper into the game — I thought that was important.”

Not only did Grove get to step foot on a big league mound in front of 51,869 screaming fans, he also got to witness a walk-off victory as Lux made up for his miscue with a two-run knock into right field.

“It was an amazing first game,” Grove said. “To get to run out there on a walk-off is really exciting. It was great.”

In 2017, Grove underwent Tommy John Surgery, making this moment even more special for him.

“Honestly, it’s crazy,” Grove said. “Where I was in May of last year compared to being here in this clubhouse now — I went through a lot but came out better on the other side. I’m super thankful for my coaches and everybody for believing in me and to keep pushing me and all of that.”