The Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox met Friday for the start of their second Interleague series at Dodger Stadium since 2013. Although he wasn’t in the lineup, David Ortiz was honored during a pregame ceremony that included former teammates Nomar Garciaparra, Adrian Gonzalez and Dave Roberts.
While Scott Kazmir has struggled in the first inning throughout the season, he worked around a Mookie Betts leadoff single to hold the Red Sox scoreless. Justin Turner doubled with two outs in the bottom of the first off All-Star Steven Wright.
Josh Reddick made solid contact but flied out to the warning track in right-center field and remained hitless during his time with the Dodgers. In his first game at Dodger Stadium since leaving as a free agent, Hanlezy Ramirez drew a leadoff walk in the second inning.
Jackie Bradley Jr. hit into a force out, then went first to third base on an Aaron Hill single. Sandy Leon’s sacrifice fly gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead before Kazmir could get out of the inning.
Wright’s knuckleball continued to give the Dodgers fits as he struck out the side, consisting of Adrian Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal and Howie Kendrick, in the bottom of the second. Betts improved to 2-for-2 on the night with a line-drive solo home run in the third that just cleared the fence in left field.
Joc Pederson led off the bottom of the third with a walk, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Kazmir. However, the Dodgers failed to capitalize on getting a runner into scoring position. After retiring the first two batters in the fourth inning, Kazmir stumbled into some trouble.
Upon issuing his second walk of the night, Kazmir allowed a two-run blast to Leon, which extended the Red Sox’ lead 4-0. Wright struck out Turner and Reddick in the fourth en route to retiring the side in order.
Seager’s fielding error allowed Betts to reach with no outs in the fifth. However, Kazmir was out of the inning two batters later on a pop out and double play. After the Dodgers were set down in order in the fifth, Kazmir issued a pair of one-out walks in the sixth and was removed.
Josh Fields took over and induced Leon into an inning-ending 3-6-1 double play. Scott Van Slyke pinch hit for Fields to lead off the bottom of the sixth and grounded out. Wright completed another 1-2-3 inning to give him 12 consecutive batters retired to that point.
Jesse Chavez got through the seventh inning without issue in his Dodger Stadium debut. Wright picked up two more strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh, benefitting from a favorable strike zone.
Travis Shaw tagged Chavez for a solo home run to right field in the eighth. After Chavez intentionally walked Hill to load the bases with one out, he gave up an RBI single to Leon that hit off the wall in center field.
J.P. Howell inherited the bases-loaded jam and was hurt by a Chase Utley error that allowed two runs to score on what was likely an inning-ending double play ball. Betts added an RBI single to extend Boston’s lead to 9-0.
Los Angeles didn’t muster any sort of comeback over the final two innings as Wright finished off his complete-game shutout. With their loss the Dodgers failed to gain ground on the San Francisco Giants, who were defeated earlier in the day by the Washington Nationals.
