It’s not often that the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers meet during the regular, though this year’s series in the second at Dodger Stadium since 2013.
The matchup comes with added significance for designated hitter David Ortiz as he’s in the midst of a farewell tour in his 20th season. The Dodgers honored the famed Red Sox slugger with a pregame ceremony on Friday.
Los Angeles donated $10,000 to the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, which was matched by Adrian Gonzalez and his wife Betsy.
Ortiz didn’t start or appear in the series opener, but was at first base on Saturday for the first time since last August.
Dodgers rookie Ross Stripling shared some of the excitement and feeling he felt with facing Ortiz, via Mark Whicker of the OC Register:
“He’s a monster,” Ross Stripling said of his first-inning encounter with David Ortiz on Saturday. “He takes up the whole box. It was awesome, all the people cheering, but I couldn’t cherish it. I was out there trying to get him out.”
Stripling was aided by Howie Kendrick’s diving stop in the first inning that robbed Ortiz of a hit and likely RBI. Ortiz flied out in his second at-bat against Stripling.
Ortiz’s next at-bat came in the sixth against rookie reliever Grant Dayton. The left-hander shared a similar sentiment as Stripling did in facing the slugger, per Robert Morales of the OC Register:
“Yeah, I was trying not to think about it,” Dayton said, smiling. “Obviously, he’s a legend and I’ve still gotta do my job, so I just wanted to execute pitches and trust (catcher) A.J. (Ellis).”
After falling behind in the count, 2-0, Dayton continued to challenge Ortiz with four-seam fastballs and struck him out swinging three pitches later. For Dayton, it was one of four strikeouts he had over two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Ortiz finished 0-for-3 and remains hitless in his career at Dodger Stadium entering Sunday’s series finale.
