- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,245,056
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
LOS ANGELES — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (59-51) win again, using two Ceddanne Rafaela homers and some late small ball to beat the Dodgers, 3-2, and clinch yet another series victory:
1) The Sox gutted out another win — facing one of baseball’s best pitchers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto), without their best hitter (Willson Contreras) and after falling behind early (2-1 in the second) — to clinch their eighth straight series win. Boston used a familiar formula to do so, getting strong pitching from Payton Tolle and three relievers and manufacturing just enough offense to get by.
Boston’s prolonged hot streak now has them having won six of seven, 13 of 16, 22 of 26 — and 30 out of 38 since June 19. A win Sunday would cause the Dodgers to be swept at home for just the second time in 2026.
The Red Sox had just four hits. That was enough.
2) The bottom three hitters in Boston’s order — with small ball as their friend — took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth. The red-hot Andruw Monasterio led off the inning with a double to left, then took third when Jarren Duran bunted and reached on a single.
With no outs and runners on the corners, the Dodgers didn’t bring their infield in. Connor Wong hit a grounder to short, where Mookie Betts decided to turn the double play and allow Monasterio to score what turned out to be the game-winning run.
Monasterio, who hit .338 with a 1.044 OPS in July, started August with another big contribution.
3) Less than 24 hours after a clutch homer to give the Red Sox the lead in the series opener, Rafaela stayed scorching with the second multi-homer game of his career. Rafaela took the All-Star Yamamoto deep twice — in the first and third innings — and plated Boston’s first two runs of the night.
Both homers went to the pull side on Yamamoto splitters. The first came on the first pitch of the at-bat and went 389 feet with an exit velocity of 100.4 mph. The second came on a 1-2 pitch inside the plate that Rafaela hit 402 feet at 100.5 mph.
Rafaela’s other multi-homer game came on May 31, 2024 against the Tigers. He now has six homers since the All-Star break — and 14 on the year, drawing him within two blasts of his career-high (16, last year). He tried for a third homer in the sixth inning but his 97 mph liner to right landed in Teoscar Hernández’s glove.
4) Starter Payton Tolle was hit pretty hard early — the first eight balls Los Angeles put in play against him left the bat at 95 mph or harder — but navigated his way around a tough lineup to give the Red Sox six strong innings.
Tolle was tagged for nine hits (five of them in the first two innings, including a two-run shot by Hernández) and walked two batters, but bore down when he needed and Los Angeles went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Tolle’s greatest escape came in the second when he intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases, then got Pages to ground out to end the inning. Tolle gained momentum throughout the outing and finished with seven strikeouts, including five in his last three frames.
Tolle’s ERA on August 1? 3.30. The Red Sox would have signed up for that in a heartbeat at the beginning of the year.
5) In relief of Tolle, interim manager Chad Tracy used the irregular trio of Justin Slaten, Tyron Guerrero and Aroldis Chapman to pitch three shutout innings to end the game. Slaten needed only eight pitches to retire the side in order, Guerrero worked around a Freddie Freeman single to throw up a zero and Chapman struck out two batters in an easy ninth.
Boston’s bullpen hot streak continued on a night it appeared setup man Garrett Whitlock wasn’t available.
6) The Dodgers tested Wilyer Abreu’s arm twice and lost both times. The Red Sox benefited from two key outs at second base thanks to their right fielder’s cannon.
In the first inning, Shohei Ohtani singled, then — for some reason — tried to tag and advance on a deep fly ball Andy Pages hit in Abreu’s direction. Abreu, near the warning track, fired to second and the ball beat Ohtani easily.
In the fifth, Pages tried to leg out a double but Abreu made a strong throw to second and shortstop Andruw Monasterio caught Pages coming off the bag for the second out of the frame. Later in the game, Freddie Freeman opted not to try to take second on a deep fly ball to right and waved toward Abreu to signal his respect.
7) Yamamoto and Masataka Yoshida were longtime teammates on the Orix Buffaloes and have played together for the Japanese national team on multiple occasions. Saturday, then, was the first time they’ve ever faced off. Yamamoto, who went eight strong innings, won that battle, getting Yoshida out all three times he faced him (with one strikeout included).
8) Just as the game ended, news broke that the Dodgers are acquiring reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from the Tigers in a blockbuster deadline deal. Red Sox players learned of the news shortly after coming off the field and it was a major topic of conversation in the clubhouse.
9) Sunday’s series finale will serve as a major test for rookie lefty Jake Bennett (6-4, 2.74 ERA), who will face the potent Dodgers lineup for the first time. Los Angeles is slated to send righty (and Boston College) product Emmet Sheehan (4-7, 4.95 ERA) to the mound.
Sheehan was originally rumored to be part of the package going to Detroit for Skubal but he’s not in the deal, so he’ll pitch as scheduled.
The game will be featured on NBC/Peacock’s Sunday Night Baseball with first pitch set for 7:20 p.m. ET.
More Red Sox coverage
- Red Sox ‘certainly keeping eyes’ on Tanner Houck — who is ‘creeping’ toward late season return from surgery
- Red Sox complete trade for Jahmai Jones by sending prospect to Tigers
- Red Sox trade rumors: Talks with Reds involving Elly de la Cruz go nowhere
- Willson Contreras out of Red Sox lineup vs. Dodgers (and their All-Star righty) Saturday
- Red Sox take the champs’ best shot and win by punching back | Sean McAdam
Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Continue reading...
