The Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Boston Red Sox in 12 innings, gutting out a 7-4 victory to take two of three in the World Series rematch at Fenway Park. Game of play was 5 hours and 40 minutes.
Max Muncy’s walk with the bases loaded broke the tie, Alex Verdugo lined an RBI single into center field, and Russell Martin beat out a potential inning-ending double play to drive home an insurance run.
The Dodgers took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to A.J. Pollock, who was responsible for each of their runs to that point. Though, the entire Dodgers lineup forced David Price to labor through much of his start much like they did to Chris Sale the night prior.
Pollock’s big night began with what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right field. It continued to carry until Mookie Betts ran out of room and watched the ball land into the first few rows by Pesky’s Pole for a three-run home run.
The homer was Pollock’s second since returning from the injured list, which matches his output before undergoing elbow surgery.
The Dodgers had one baserunner in each the second, third and fourth innings, with Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger drawing respective walks, and Alex Verdugo driving a single into left field. Although Price managed to strand the three, he faced more trouble in the fifth inning.
David Freese doubled down the right-field line and later scored on Pollock’s two-out RBI single. That provided Hyun-Jin Ryu with some breathing room and he did his part to make the lead stand by continuing to pitch well after a bit of a shaky first inning.
After Pollock’s fly-ball-of-a-home-run put L.A. up 3-0, the Red Sox immediately cut into their deficit. They were assisted by miscues and sloppy play from the Dodgers, as two infield singles and an error led to two runs scoring.
Ryu proceeded to retire 10 batters in a row before Muncy’s second throwing error of the game allowed Rafael Devers to wind up in scoring position with two outs in the fifth inning.
A walk followed, and Verdugo then prevented the Red Sox from cutting the Dodgers’ lead in half by throwing out Devers at home plate on his attempt to score on J.D. Martinez’s single to left field.
Ryu got through seven innings with just the two first-inning runs allowed. He’s limited opponents to two earned runs or fewer in 17 of 18 starts this season. The outing at Fenway Park was a bit of redemption as he was knocked around by the Red Sox for four runs in 4.2 innings in Game 2 of the 2018 World Series.
Pedro Baez allowed the lead to slip away when he surrendered back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning. Kenley Jansen inherited two runners with one out in the ninth and wiggled out of the jam by retiring Devers and striking out Xander Bogaearts, who hit one of the home runs off Baez.
Jansen returned to the mound in the 10th inning and stranded a one-out walk and stolen base to keep the Dodgers’ hopes alive. They nearly took a lead in the 11th on Justin Turner’s base hit to left field, but Verdugo was thrown out at home plate to end the inning.
The Red Sox had a runner reach scoring position with one out in each the ninth, 10th and 11th innings. Included in that was Jackie Bradley Jr.’s leadoff double in the 11th.
