All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 7-4 loss to the Dodgers, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Red Sox unable to get big hit: Of late, the Red Sox' problems with runners in scoring position have largely been solved. Coming into Sunday night's game, they were batting .352 with RISP in the previous 17 games. And for Sunday's game, they were a respectable 5-for-14 in that department. But in the late innings, the Sox couldn't produce when they had a chance to win the game. After rallying to tie the game in the eighth, they stranded two runners in the ninth, one in scoring position in the 10th, three more in the 11th and, finally, the leadoff runner in the 12th.
Price outing shortened by pitch count: The Dodgers had a game plan to spoil a lot of David Price's pitches, and they managed 35 foul balls off him in his start. In his five innings of work, Price threw 27, 22, 18, 17 and 29 pitches in his innings, with the number inflated as the L.A. hitters fouled off pitch after pitch. "That's tough,'' acknowledged of the Dodgers' approach. "At the same time, I feel like I can make better pitches. Whenever I have the opportunity to put somebody away, I haven't been able to do that in the past two or three weeks and that's really driven the pitch count up, just kind of wasting pitches, foul balls on pitches in the middle of the plate and just not locating my fastball the way that I can. That's all part of it.''
Bullpen holds on...for a while: With Price knocked out after five, the Sox had a lot of innings to ask of their bullpen, and the reliever responded -- until the 12th. Six different Red Sox relievers -- Josh Taylor, Colten Brewer, Ryan Brasier, Brandon Workman, Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree -- each contributed an inning of scoreless relief, buying the Red Sox time to battle back (which they did in the eighth inning on homers from Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez) to tie. But unable to get the go-ahead run to cross the plate, the Sox eventually ran out of fresh arms and good fortune. Hector Velazquez, pitching for the third straight day, didn't have much left and allowed three runs in the 12th for the defeat.
TURNING POINT
In the bottom of the 11th, Jackie Bradley Jr. led off with a double, putting the potential winning run in scoring position. But Bradley, ordinarily one of the team's best and smartest baserunners, broke for third on a groundball to shortstop and Corey Seager was able to throw to third, easily cutting down Bradley for the first out and taking away the Sox' momentum.
ONE UP
Mookie Betts: Betts extended his hitting streak to six games with a single and double and scored a run for the 10th straight games.
TWO DOWN
Hector Velazquez: Pitching for the third straight day, Velazquez committed one mistake by walking the first hitter he faced then compounded things by being charged with baserunner interference to the second. It went downhill from there as the Dodgers managed three runs in the 12th against him.
Rafael Devers: He numerous changes to deliver the big hit on numerous occasions, but was just 1-for-5 while stranding four baserunners.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We had some opportunities to win. ... That's a good team. We didn't quit. They continued to fight and so did we. But they came out on top today.'' David Price.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The loss was the fourth in extra innings this season for the Red Sox.
- The Sox have scored in the first inning in 10 of their last 13 games.
- Heath Hembree has allowed just two earned runs in his last 24 appearances.