Freddie Freeman’s slam vaults Dodgers over Red Sox

Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam in the eighth inning Friday to bring a stagnant offense to life as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.

The Dodgers had just two hits through seven innings before loading the bases in the eighth on a walk to Miguel Vargas, a double from Shohei Ohtani and an intentional walk to Will Smith. Freeman followed with a blast into the Red Sox’s bullpen off left-hander Brennan Bernardino (3-3).

Rookie right-hander Gavin Stone gave up one run over five innings on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts as the Dodgers won after dropping six of their previous seven games. Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (4-2) pitched a scoreless inning to pick up the victory, and right-hander Daniel Hudson pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Jarren Duran followed his All-Star Game MVP performance with another home run for the Red Sox, while right-hander Nick Pivetta gave up two hits over six scoreless innings.

Duran hit a go-ahead home run at Tuesday’s All-Star Game and put his team on top in the fifth inning against Stone with his 11th of the season, but the Red Sox went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Boston fell after winning 10 of 13 games to close out the first half.

The defeat came in Boston’s first visit to Los Angeles since they clinched the 2018 World Series on the same field.

Pivetta had eight strikeouts but remained winless since June 17.

The Red Sox wasted a number of prime scoring chances early against Stone, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position over the first four innings. Duran found a way around that issue when he hit a solo home run on a 1-1 changeup from Stone.

The Dodgers wasted Teoscar Hernandez’s one-out double in the fourth inning, with Pivetta retiring the last eight batters he faced.

–Field Level Media