Dodgers 8 Red Sox 5: Dodgers Rob Boston of Series Win

The Dodgers beat the Red Sox and Rob Segedin comes up huge in his first game with the big league club.

To say Brandon McCarthy struggled in his start today would be a huge understatement. McCarthy greatly struggled with his control, to the point where he was throwing behind left handed hitters. He threw multiple pitches that bounced and went all the way to the back stop. There was no hope for Yasmani Grandal to catch any of them. McCarthy only went 3.2 innings today. He allowed two hits, two earned runs, walked five and did not strike out a batter. The only thing that really saved the Dodgers was in three innings the Red Sox had hit into two double plays which allowed them to escape the innings early. This means that McCarthy has walked five batters in back to back starts. He did the same when he faced Colorado on August 2nd. This outing was just flat out awful, there’s really no sugar-coating it. McCarthy threw 65 pitches today and 31 were strikes. It became his shortest major league outing since May 9, 2014 based on his pitch count. As he exited the game, the crowd erupted in boos. It is pretty embarrassing when your home field crowd boos you.

The Red Sox would score first in the top of the first inning thanks to a single, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly. Two more walks in the top of the fourth inning and a single would allowed the Red Sox to add another run to their lead. Both runs were charged to McCarthy, but by the top of the fourth the Dodgers were trailing by a score of 2-0.

The Dodgers offense woke up in the bottom of the fourth inning. Justin Turner led off with a solo home run to get the boys in blue on the board. Adrian Gonzalez followed him up with a deep double to center. Enrique Hernandez struck out swinging and Josh Reddick came to the plate. Reddick hit into a fielder’s choice and in the words of Vin Scully “Gonzalez would have been out from me to you.” The ball was fielded and throw to third base, but the ball was dropped and no tag was placed, so Gonzo was safe at third. Grandal then walked and Rob Segedin was coming up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Segedin was making his major league debut today. He played with the club in spring training, but has spent the season at the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate in OKC. Segedin came up and crushed the ball for a double to deep center. If the ball was hit just a little harder it would have been a grand slam, but it did not even matter. Segedin got hit first major league hit and major league RBI’s while adding two runs to the Dodgers score. By the end of the fourth, the Dodgers held the lead by a score of 3 to 2.

David Price started to lose his command in the fifth inning. Corey Seager started the inning off with a walk. Turner grounded into a fielder’s choice, which resulted on Seager being out at second. Then Gonzo came up and singled to left. Hernandez was called safe at first thanks to a throwing error from Xander Bogaerts. The rally continued when Grandal walked and once again Segedin came up with the bases loaded and two outs. All he did was single in two more runners. Segedin drove in four runs in just two innings. Thanks to a few walks, errors and hot Dodger bats, by the end of the fifth inning, the Dodgers had the lead by a score of 6 to 2.

The Red Sox tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth inning. Luis Avilan started the inning for the Dodgers and allowed two runs that came off of two singles and double. Dave Roberts made a double switch to put in Chase Utley at second base and bring in Joe Blanton from the pen. David Ortiz entered the game to pinch hit for Bryce Brentz. Ortiz walked and Mookie Betts singled in a run. Betts is just amazing when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position. The lead was cut to one run. When the top of the sixth ended, the score was 6-5, Dodgers.

Things would remain the same until the bottom of the seventh inning. Junichi Tazawa took over on the mound for the Red Sox. After getting Turner to pop up for a quick first out, Gonzo crushed a ball into right center for a solo home run. That home run marked the 300th home run of Gonzalez’s career. Hernandez joined him by hitting a solo shot to left center. Back to back home runs gave the Dodgers another three run lead.

The score was still 8 to 5, Dodgers when Kenley Jansen entered the game for the top of the ninth inning. Before the inning could get started, they had to take a quick break thanks to some fans running on the field. Jansen came in and struck out the side. He faced six Red Sox batters in the past two games and struck them all out.

The Giants lost today too so the Dodgers are now just ONE GAME out of first place! With tonight’s victory, the Dodgers take the series from the Red Sox. No doubt about it, Segedin was clutch tonight and came up huge with runners in scoring position. That’s where to momentum shifted for the team. Congrats to Segedin. What a way to join the big league club.

The Dodgers begin a new series at home tomorrow night with the Phillies and look to keep this little two game winning streak going (it counts, even if it is just two games).