Freddie Freeman’s slam lets Dodgers beat Red Sox

Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam in the eighth inning on Friday to spark a stagnant offense. The Los Angeles Dodgers bounced back Friday to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 in the opening game of a three-game series.

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

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

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

Duran hit a go-ahead homer at Tuesday’s All-Star Game, putting his team ahead 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 lost after winning 10 of 13 games to end the first half.

The loss came during Boston’s first visit to Los Angeles since winning the World Series on the same field in 2018.

Pivetta struck out eight batters but had not won a game since June 17.

The Red Sox squandered some prime scoring opportunities early against Stone, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position through the first four innings. Duran found a way around that problem when he hit a solo home run off a 1-1 changeup by Stone.

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

–Field Level Media