Mookie Betts stepped to the plate and tipped his batting helmet to the group, acknowledging the raucous ovation he acquired from the sellout Fenway Park crowd in his first at bat again in practically 4 years.
Then, over the following three hours, he and his new Los Angeles Dodgers teammates confirmed the folks of Boston what they’ve been lacking.
Betts went 1 for 4 with a double, a stroll and two runs scored in his return to Boston, sparking what wound up being a pair of three-run rallies to assist the Dodgers cost previous the Red Sox for a 7-4 win. He additionally began at second, and after shifting to his extra acquainted place in proper subject caught Connor Wong in no man’s land on the bases to chop brief Boston’s greatest likelihood to mount a late rally.
Freddie Freeman additionally placed on a present, going 4 for five with two runs scored and an RBI.
Since being traded in early 2020 Betts has solid an extended shadow over the Red Sox, and pretty or not Alex Verdugo has shouldered a lot of that weight. One of the gamers acquired within the Betts deal, Verdugo should have felt some degree of catharsis when he smashed a leadoff dwelling run into the correct subject bleachers, uncorking a wild celebration as he rounded the bases.
Trevor Story received in on the enjoyable within the backside of the second as nicely, hitting his first dwelling run of the season by knocking a two-run shot into the Green Monster seats. That 3-0 lead was lots for Kutter Crawford, a minimum of for some time, because the right-hander struck out seven whereas permitting two hits and a stroll by his first 5 scoreless innings.
Crawford ultimately ran out of fuel as soon as he got here again for the sixth, and Betts was the one who ignited the Dodgers’ fuse. The 2018 American League MVP ripped a leadoff double to the wall and Freddie Freeman adopted with a single to place males at second and third with no outs.
That chased Crawford from the sport, prompting Red Sox supervisor Alex Cora handy the ball to Nick Pivetta. Things rapidly unraveled from there.
Pivetta allowed each inherited runners to attain, first giving up an RBI double to Will Smith after which a run-scoring groundout to Max Muncy, and with two outs former Red Sox infielder Kiké Hernández hit a game-tying RBI single to knot it up at 3-3.
Things didn’t go any higher within the prime of the seventh. Pivetta walked two of the primary three batters, Betts included, and served up the go-ahead double to Freeman, his MLB-leading forty eighth of the season. Muncy adopted up moments later with a two-run double to make it 6-3, sending the huge and vocal contingent of Dodgers followers who made the journey right into a frenzy.
The Red Sox had loads of probabilities, first to tug away early after which to come back from behind late, however couldn’t capitalize.
Boston went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring place and stranded a minimum of one runner in each inning. The Red Sox had been capable of get a run again within the backside of the seventh when Muncy threw away what ought to have been a double play on a Justin Turner grounder, however they squandered a number of probabilities after that.
The killer misstep got here within the backside of the eighth, when the Red Sox received two males on with two outs and Verdugo singled to apparently load the bases. Except, Wong received caught too far between second and third on Betts’ throw again to the infield and was tagged out to finish the inning.
In doing so the Red Sox repeatedly let the Dodgers’ pitchers off the hook. Starting pitcher Lance Lynn wasn’t something particular, permitting 10 hits and a stroll over six-plus innings whereas solely hanging out one, however the Red Sox had been solely capable of convert all of that visitors into 4 runs (three earned).
Brusdar Graterol, a reliever who was initially presupposed to be a part of the Betts deal as nicely, allowed two hits over 1.2 scoreless innings and Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips mixed for 1.1 scoreless to close the door on the Red Sox. Los Angeles scored its final run on a David Peralta sacrifice fly within the prime of the ninth off John Schreiber.
Source: www.bostonherald.com