Final: Red Sox 4, Dodgers 3 - Red Sox win series against Dodgers

The Red Sox win the series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-3 victory.

Despite only recording five hits on the day, the Red Sox were able to pull through with massive at-bats in the fifth inning.

Walker Buehler got the start against his former team, and the righty struggled with his command allowing three runs and five walks through 4.2 innings on the mound. 

After the Red Sox scored the first run with a sac fly RBI from Trevor Story in the first inning, the Dodgers took the lead taking advantage of Buehler's control issues. In the third inning, Buehler loaded up the bases and with Freddie Freeman up to bat, he allowed a bases loaded walk to the all-star first baseman which tied the game.

In the fourth inning, the Dodgers added two more runs to their lead. Buehler allowed a solo home run to Michael Confronto, and after giving up a walk with two outs, Mookie Betts drove in a run putting the game at 3-1 in favor of the Dodgers.

Things weren't looking good for Boston on the hitting side. Dustin May struck out five batters between the third and fourth inning, and the Red Sox only had two hits up to this point.

However, the Red Sox finally put together good at-bats in the fifth inning which put them back in the lead. After a single from Abraham Toro, Roman Anthony recorded an RBI triple off the Green Monster cutting Los Angeles' lead to one run.

And on the next pitch, Alex Bregman smashed a two-run home run to left field which retook the lead for the Red Sox.

Boston's bullpen kept the Dodgers to three runs the rest of the game. Brennan Bernardino, Greg Weissert, and Justin Wilson combined for 2.1 shutout innings between the fifth and seventh innings.

Aroldis Chapman then came in to shut down LA's top of the order, but that didn't go as planned. After walking two batters and recording one out, Chapman was taken out of the game after an apparent injury. While there's no explanation yet for Chapman's exit, his fastball dipped to 94 MPH which is unusually low for him.

The Red Sox had to turn to Jordan Hicks to get them out of the jam, and he delivered. The reliever who was traded for Rafael Devers got Boston out of the eight inning with help from a self-assisted double play from Ceddanne Rafaela.

Boston kept Hicks in for the ninth, and he picked up the save sealing the series win for the Red Sox.

In their toughest stretch of the season, the Red Sox finished 4-5 against three National League teams that currently hold playoffs spots. While the hitting wasn't great, the top of the order gave Boston the necessary runs to get them over the hump.

Even after another roller coaster outing from Buehler, the bullpen kept Los Angeles at bay and became the biggest storyline from this victory. Preventing the Dodgers from scoring another run without Chapman is massive, and a lot of credit has to go to Hicks for helping them do that.

The Red Sox will now travel to Minnesota to start a three game series with the Twins. Game starts at 7:40 p.m. with Richard Fitts on the mound.

__________________

WHO: Red Sox (56-50) vs Dodgers (61-44)
WHEN: 1:35 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston
SERIES TO DATE: (1-1), (1-1)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Walker Buehler (6-6, 5.72 ERA) vs. RHP Dustin May (6-6, 4.73 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Roman Anthony (L) LF
Alex Bregman (R) 3B
Jarren Duran (L) CF
Trevor Story (R) SS
Masataka Yoshida (L) DH
Carlos Narváez (R) C
Wilyer Abreu (L) RF
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) 2B
Abraham Toro (S) 1B

SP Walker Buehler

DODGERS

Mookie Betts (R) SS
Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Teoscar Hernández (R) RF
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Andy Pages (R) CF
Michael Conforto (L) LF
Tommy Edman (S) 3B
Dalton Rushing (L) C
Miguel Rojas (R) 2B

SP Dustin May

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox will play their final game of series against the Los Angeles Dodgers after last night's win.

Roman Anthony will bat leadoff for the first time in his MLB career. Jarren Duran bats third after his big offensive game yesterday. “Roman has done that throughout his career (in the minors), and I feel like today was a good day to try it,” Alex Cora said. “JD has been really good with men on throughout the season. So last night after the game, I was like, we should give it a try, see what happens.”

Jarren Duran on the trade rumors: “Honestly, that’s probably one of the things I actually don’t stress about,” Duran said about being mentioned in rumors. “I have no control over it. So if it happens, it happens. But I don’t have social media like Twitter and stuff like that. So I never kind of see any of that stuff. But my dad always keeps me on my toes and shoots one over to me every once in a while.”