The three phases — offense, defense, pitching — click in Dodgers’ opener win in Boston
by Megan Garcia
The Dodgers were closer on Friday to what has been that elusive complete game.
Their 5–2 win in Boston saw timely hitting, strong defense and a pitching staff that limited the opposition.
Friday was the second game in which the Dodgers notched 10 hits in a game in the second half and the first to result in a win.
“We did a good job building innings,” said manager Dave Roberts. “We took some good walks, spoiled some good pitches. (Boston starter Brayan) Bello is one of their guys. It’s (us) getting back to what we need.”
The Dodgers were up 3–2 lead entering the eighth inning. Three of their previous six games have been decided by one run with the Dodgers on the losing end of two of them.
It took Teoscar Hernández’s two-run homer in the eighth against Red Sox reliever Jorge Alcala to give them some cushion.
After he led the team with three hits on Wednesday, Hernández led with three RBI in the series opener on Friday. The veteran outfielder has a career .965 OPS, 15 home runs and 47 RBI in 45 career games at Fenway Park.
Hernández’s homer was the 13th home run the Dodgers have hit since the All-Star Break, tied for fourth in Major League Baseball.
The Dodgers have scored 32 runs in their last six games. Teams have also scored 31 runs against them in that span.
Tommy Edman got the Dodgers on the board in the second with an RBI single. Andy Pages added to the lead with a sacrifice fly out.
Dodger starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan bounced back well after his five-run start against the Brewers on July 19. Friday was his fourth outing with two earned runs or less this season. Sheehan struck out five and walked two batters while throwing 78 pitches (47 strikes) in five innings.
He retired the last nine batters he faced.
“Definitely didn’t have my best stuff,” Sheehan said of his start. “But you got to work with what you have sometimes out there. I felt it went pretty well towards the end.”
The bullpen also trended in a positive direction after giving up 15 runs in 25 2/3 innings since the All-Star break. The Dodger bullpen of Anthony Banda, Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia and Ben Casparius shut the Red Sox out over the last four innings. Casparius earned his first career save to cap off the bullpen’s four scoreless combined innings.
The three phases — offense, defense, pitching — click in Dodgers’ opener win in Boston was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.