Although the Dodgers outscored and outhit the Boston Red Sox five and 10 to two and five respectively in their decisive win at historic Fenway Park on Friday evening, it was an under-the-radar third-inning / nine-pitch walk of 32-year-old Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández by 26-year-old Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello that allowed Dodgers designated hitter and international superstar Shohei Ohtani to step on home plate with the Dodgers third run in their eventual 5-2 win over the BoSox.
Oh sure, it will be Teo’s eighth-inning / 415-foot / two-run home run to center field that made it 5-2 for which the game will forever be remembered, but credit where due, it was his impressive nine-pitch walk that drove in the game-winner.
“It takes a little bit of everything. We put some good at-bats today, a lot of walks, a lot of two-strike hits, and when the situation comes, we get the big hit,” Hernández told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson immediately after the game. “And the pitching was there, decent, we didn’t get a lot of action (in the outfield) today, but the pitching do their job, we have to do our job too,” the popular Dodgers outfielder added.
(SportsNet LA)
It was Teo’s 15th home run of the season and ironically his 15th career home run at Fenway.
“In the beginning of the game, I thought Teo, Andy (Pages) taking their walks, really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters postgame.
As for “…the pitching was there,” 25-year-old Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan gave his team five solid innings, allowing two runs on three hits while walking two and striking out five, doing so on 78 pitches of which 47 were strikes.
“He gave us everything we needed and we needed every bit of it,” Roberts said postgame of Sheehan’s second win of the season (with one loss).
(SportsNet LA)
With the win and losses by the second-place San Diego Padres and third-place San Francisco Giants on Friday, the Dodgers regained their 6.0 and 7.0-game leads over the Friars and Hated Ones in the NL West.
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