The Dodgers’ latest interleague stretch turned into a rough Friday night at Dodger Stadium, where Boston handed them a 9-4 loss in a bullpen game that eventually ran out of answers.
Los Angeles had been rolling before this one, winning all four of its series since the All-Star break, but the Red Sox showed up as the hotter team and played like it. The game also fit neatly into an unusual run for the Dodgers: this was their fourth straight home game against an American League opponent, and with the Kansas City Royals next up in the middle of August, they’ll have nine straight interleague games at Chavez Ravine.
For a while, the Dodgers had enough offense to keep things moving. Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup after resting his knee on Thursday and immediately got involved, opening with a leadoff double. Freddie Freeman followed with a single that brought Ohtani home in the fourth inning, trimming Boston’s lead to 3-1 and extending Freeman’s hitting streak to 10 games, the longest by a Dodger this season.
The Dodgers then pushed in front in the fifth. Kyle Tucker walked, Kiké Hernández singled, and Eliezer Alfonzo delivered an RBI single. Hernández was thrown out after rounding second, but Ohtani erased the missed chance by launching his 24th home run of the season to give Los Angeles a 4-3 lead.
That edge didn’t last long.
The pitching plan was already a thin one, with the Dodgers using a bullpen game and only five starters available in their six-man rotation. Edgardo Henriquez opened with a scoreless first, but Will Klein struggled as the next arm in.
Klein gave up three runs, one of them earned, over 1.1 innings. A walk to Caleb Durbin was followed by a failed pickoff throw, moving the runner to third, and Jarren Duran then chipped in a two-out single.
Klein returned for the third, loaded the bases with two singles and a hit-by-pitch, and that ended his night.
Cole Irvin was the next man up after being recalled earlier in the day when Brock Stewart went on the injured list. He entered with one out and got a ground ball from the first batter he faced, but Freeman’s error opened the door for two runs to score. Irvin settled things down for the next three innings, only for the seventh to unravel in a hurry.
Boston started that frame with a walk, then Ceddanne Rafaela turned the game with a go-ahead two-run homer. Three singles followed to fill the bases, and Andruw Monasterio doubled in two more. Duran then grounded out on a comebacker to Irvin, but another run crossed to stretch the Red Sox lead to four.
The Red Sox added one more in the ninth with a single and a double off Irvin before Evan Phillips came in and allowed a sacrifice fly.
Irvin was charged with six runs on eight hits in six innings, striking out five and walking three. Even so, he covered enough of the game to spare the Dodgers’ bullpen from carrying an even heavier load.
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