After a punt game in the opener, the Los Angeles Dodgers tried to bounce back against a red-hot Boston Red Sox team to set up a potential series rubber match on Sunday afternoon, but they were unsuccessful.
The Red Sox are coming off a month of July in which they set a club record with a 21-4 mark, while the Dodgers have won all four series they’ve played since the All-Star break, making Saturday an important game to potentially keep that streak going.
Instead, the Dodgers will try to salvage the series and avoid being swept in the series finale.
Prior to the game, the Dodgers also made two roster moves, swapping Cole Irvin for Kyle Hurt and placing Will Klein on the injured list while recalling Wyatt Mills.
Red Sox 3, Dodgers 2: key takeaways
Yoshinobu Yamamoto turns in solid start
Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in another strong start overall, but he was beaten by the Red Sox with their limited hits. The right-hander gave the Dodgers eight innings and allowed three runs on four hits. He tallied just three strikeouts, but only walked one.
The Red Sox got on the board first when Ceddanne Rafaela homered in the first inning. He then got Yamamoto again with another homer in the third inning that tied the game, 2-2.
Neither team got on the board again until the eighth inning, starting with a double from Andruw Monasterio and then a single from Jarren Duran. Connor Wong grounded into a double play, but that scored the go-ahead run for the Red Sox.
Dodgers struggle with their opportunities
The Dodgers tallied 10 hits in the game, but only scored two runs on a home run from Teoscar Hernández in the second inning. Freddie Freeman had a leadoff single to set the stage and advanced his hitting streak to 11 games.
Outside of that, the Dodgers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. They also hit into two double plays, one in the first inning when Shohei Ohtani was thrown out trying to tag up, and again in the third inning when Freeman grounded into one after a walk from Tommy Edman.
Freeman still finished his day with three hits, as did Hernández. No one else in the lineup had more than one.
Red Sox starter Payton Tolle set the tone for the Red Sox pitching as he gave them six innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts and two walks. Aroldis Chapman recorded the save in the ninth inning.
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