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.

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.

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.

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Luis Ortiz pitched seven shutout innings, Oneil Cruz had a home run and three RBIs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates stretched their winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.

Ortiz (5-2), who had not gone more than six innings this season, gave up three hits and two walks with two strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.57.

“Obviously, it feels good to go out there and throw seven scoreless, but it’s just an inning-by-inning thing that I’ve prepared my mind for,” Ortiz said. “To go out there every inning, first pitch to be aggressive and attack the strike zone. The results are there.”

Andrew McCutchen led off the sixth inning by hitting a 3-1 sinker from Cristopher Sánchez (7-5) 431 feet into the bullpen in left-center field. Nick Gonzales, who hit the winning RBI single in the ninth inning of an 8-7 win Friday night, got on with a two-out single and scored on Cruz’s double off the wall in right.

“I didn’t even know we had six (straight) wins but I think it’s just the way our mentality is,” McCutchen said. “Just show up, try to win today. Obviously, with the pitching we’ve been able to have, our starters have been going out and we’ve been able to get some timely hitting when we’ve needed, even if our starters aren’t able to be able to shut them out like Ortiz did today.

“The timely hitting, guys staying within themselves, it’s just all-around good baseball. When you play good baseball, you win games. It’s what we’re doing right now.”

Cruz hit a two-out, two-run home run 422 feet off a fastball from Matt Strahm to make it 4-0 in the eighth. He also had three RBIs on Friday.

“This kid likes the lights. I think we’ve seen that the last two nights,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s stepped his game up a little bit. And he’s healthy now, which before the break, he wasn’t healthy. It’s been very much needed, and it’s fun to watch.”

Bryce Harper hit his 22nd homer off Pirates closer David Bednar with one out in the ninth.

Sánchez was pulled after allowing two runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings for the Phillies, who have lost three games in a row and four of their last five.

“That happens,” Sánchez said. “That’s just part of the game. You just have to make the right adjustments and keep it going.”

Gonzales came close to putting Pittsburgh ahead in the first inning, driving a liner to center that would have scored Bryan Reynolds from second. But Johan Rojas made a diving catch, going forward and stretching to his left to keep it from slipping into the gap.

“They’re good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the Pirates. “I mean, they’re talented. They’ve got good starting pitching. They’ve got thump in the middle of their lineup. They’ve got a good bullpen, especially the back end. They’re a good club.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: C J.T. Realmuto, who had right knee meniscectomy surgery on June 12, was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. He was 1 for 3 with a walk. … LHP Ranger Suárez (low back spasms) and RHP Zack Wheeler (back tightness) will return for Philadelphia’s next series at the Minnesota Twins. Suárez will start Monday and Wheeler will take the mound Tuesday.

UP NEXT

LHP Marco Gonzales (1-0, 2.45 ERA) will take the mound as the Pirates go for the three-game sweep Sunday, opposite Phillies RHP Tyler Phillips (1-0, 4.50).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb