The Boston Red Sox fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 in 11 innings, at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.
Remaining in the loss column, the Red Sox dropped to 53-44 while the Dodgers improved to 58-41 on their season.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Boston needed a bounce-back to avoid giving Los Angeles a chance at the sweep in Sunday’s series finale, and nearly had it.
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The Dodgers delivered their first of several gut-punches in the bottom half of the sixth inning, tackling across two runs to take a 3-2 lead over the Red Sox after Brayan Bello began the night dealing — he held Los Angeles to one run through the first five innings. From there, it was up to Boston to respond following a series opener in which the offense failed to deliver in dire moments, finishing 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Tyler O’Neill bailed the Red Sox out, not once, but twice, both times providing the team with a go-ahead two-run home run — in the seventh and 10th innings. Boston had an opportunity to close out Los Angeles, but ex-Red Sox Kiké Hernández ripped a page from O’Neill’s book. Hernández crushed a game-tying solo home run in the 10th inning and evened up the score, again, with an RBI single in the 10th inning.
It was clear that Boston’s bullpen didn’t have the arm depth needed to put away the National League West-leading Dodgers. Red Sox manager Alex Cora used four relief arms, but none were able to shut the door on Los Angeles. Will Smith delivered the game-winning single, sending the Dodgers back to the win column in walk-off fashion.
Meanwhile, Boston fell to 6 1/2 games back of the American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles, still winless following the All-Star break.
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STARS OF THE GAME
— Smith supplied the biggest base knock of the night, going up the middle with a single off Boston’s Greg Weissert to send the Red Sox on the verge of being swept.
— O’Neill took over in the critical moments, delivering two two-run home runs, which both gave the Red Sox late-game leads. The 29-year-old finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
— Hernández, who spent three seasons with Boston, came through in the clutch (twice) to give the Dodgers a clean slate. Hernández wasn’t in the initial lineup, but substituting in for second baseman Gavin Lux proved to be a game-changing move from Los Angeles skipper Dave Roberts.
ON DECK
Boston and Los Angeles will wrap up their three-game series Sunday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium. That series finale will be aired on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” The Red Sox will return to NESN airwaves on Monday night to begin a three-game set in Colorado against the Rockies.
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