Boston Red Sox win the World Series in Game 5 with pitching gem from David Price

The Boston Red Sox celebrate winning the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

By Times staff

Oct. 27, 2018 1:45 AM PT

The bell tolled for the 2018 Dodgers at 8:17 p.m. on Sunday, as Manny Machado made the final, futile swing of the season in Game 5 of the World Series, a 5-1 defeat by the Boston Red Sox that lacked the drama and turmoil of the previous night. The anti-climax still stung. Despite looking feeble for the majority of the Fall Classic, the team finished three victories shy of the championship which has eluded Los Angeles since 1988.

The Boston Red Sox celebrate their 5-1 World Series win over the Dodgers.

The drought reached its 30th year in dispiriting fashion. The Dodgers spent a summer with their flaws hiding in plain sight. The group overcame them to collective their second consecutive National League pennant. Then, across 54 innings with the Red Sox, the team saw itself torn apart from within and without. They made mistakes and paid for them. They failed to execute, and saw their opponents romp inside their own ballpark, which teemed with Red Sox fans by Sunday’s conclusion.

Full Price

Red Sox pitcher David Price reacts after getting Dodgers Yasiel Puig to ground out in the 7th inning.

The defeat ushered in a winter of uncertainty. Manager Dave Roberts does not have a guaranteed contract for 2019. He exposed himself to criticism after questionable decisions in this series, including an over-reliance on fading reliever Ryan Madson. Clayton Kershaw can depart in free agency. He took two losses in these five games.

Swan song

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw walks back to the dugout inthe 7th inning against the Red Sox.

Kershaw surrendered three home runs across seven innings. He was charged with four runs. The ballpark hushed after he served up a first-inning blast. The atmosphere mutated from there. Called into relief in the eighth, Pedro Baez yielded a homer of his own.

Moments

Clockwise from top left: Clayton Kershaw surrenders a seventh inning homer to JD Martinez; Dodgers outfielder Kiki Hernandez can't catch a home run ball off the bat of Red Sox J.D. Martinez; Steve Pearce celebrates his 2nd home run of the game against the Dodgers in the 8th inning; Steve Pearce celebrates his 2nd home run of the game against the Dodgers in the 8th inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Red tide in Blue Heaven

Red Sox fans celebrate after winning the World Series 5-1 over the Dodgers in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.

World Series Game 4 | Red Sox 9 – Dodgers 6

As Dave Roberts journeyed from the bench to the mound Saturday night, the fans in Dodger Stadium started to boo. The closer the manager moved to the mound, the louder the boos became.

The audience knew something Roberts didn’t: He was making a mistake by removing Rich Hill from the game.

Deflated

Dodgers Yasiel Puig reacts after Red Sox hitter Mitch Moreland hits a three-run home run in the 7th inning in Game 4 of the World Series.

Call it a historic collapse. Call it a systematic breakdown. Call it the early onset of winter. All apply, yet none precisely capture the bitterness of the fourth game of the World Series, an 9-6 defeat to the Boston Red Sox, when the Dodgers stood on the verge of tying this series and let the opportunity slip through their collective fingers.

The Dodgers bullpen implodes and lets 4-0 lead slip away in 9-6 World Series Game 4 loss to Red Sox

Strike three

Blown save

6th inning surge

Dodgers Yasiel Puig hit a three-run home run against the Red Sox in the 6th inning in Game 4 of the World Series.

Forever joined

World Series Game 3 | Dodgers 3 — Red Sox 2

Dodgers Max Muncy hits the game-winning home run against the Red Sox in the bottom of the 18th inning

The joyous throng gathered around home plate at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, seven hours and 20 minutes after this monstrosity of a baseball game had begun. Never before had a World Series game lasted this long. Never before had a playoff game lasted this long. Never before had the Dodgers experienced a victory quite like their 3-2 walkoff over the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series, an 18-inning agony that ended with sweet relief when Max Muncy launched a solo home run.

The Dodgers crowded the plate as Muncy rounded the bases. Dodger Stadium teetered with delirium. Muncy disappeared inside the throng, having taken Boston pitcher Nathan Eovaldi deep and perhaps tilted the balance of this series. The Dodgers still trail, 2-1, after Game 3. But the cost of Boston’s pitching decisions may last beyond the initial marathon.

Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy reacts after hitting the game-winning homer off Boston Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi in the 18th inning.

Teammates celebrate with the Dodgers' Max Muncy after his walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox iin Game 3 of the World Series.

The Dodgers celebrate Max Muncy's walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox in the bottom of the 18th inning in Game 3 of the World Series.

Max Muncy celebrates after hitting the game-winning home run and leading the Dodgers to defeat the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series.

13th inning

Red Sox third baseman Eduardo Nunez falls into the stands after catching a foul ball hit by Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger in the 13th inning.

Out at home

Ian Kinsler is tagged out by Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes on a throw from outfielder Cody Bellinger to end the top of the 10th inning.

The longest game

A Dodgers fan is silhouetted by the moon during Game 3 of the World Series.

Left: Pedro Baez, Manny Machado and Austin Barnes meet on the mound in the 10th inning. Right: A Dodgers fan braces herself as Game 3 goes into extra inning. (Robert Gauthier, Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers fan Stephanie Ospina and Michael Warkentin, both of Long Beach, take a selfie as the sun sets during Game 3 of the World Series.

World Series Game 2 | Red Sox 4 Dodgers 2

Manny Machado breaks his bat as he hits into a double play against the Brewers in the first inning in Game 5 of the NLCS. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Bullied for the second game in a row at Fenway Park, the Dodgers will return to Los Angeles on Thursday with their season in jeopardy of ending this weekend at Dodger Stadium. After a 4-2 defeat in Game 2 of the World Series, the Dodgers trail by two games and have little immediate reason for optimism.

The high-flying offense has yet to materialize. Their starting pitchers have yet to record an out in the sixth inning. Their bullpen has yet to find a mess they can clean up. Ryan Madson played a pivotal role for the second night in a row, handing back the lead by allowing three inherited runners to score in the fifth inning.

Daniel Tanchauco of Los Angeles shoots a snapshot of the field as he arrives for Game 2 of the World Series at Fenway Park. At right, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hugs former teammate Kevin Millar in a pregame ceremony honoring the 2004 Red Sox championship. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Flying high

Andrew Benintendi makes a leaping catch on a ball hit by Dodger Brian Dozier in the fifth inning.

The bats were colder than the climate Wednesday. After a fourth-inning flurry, the hitters produced nothing against Boston starter David Price and the relievers who replaced him after the sixth inning. The Dodgers finished the night on an 0-for-16 skid. The group compiled three hits and struck out eight times, whimpering through the finish line after a go-ahead single by Yasiel Puig in the fourth inning.

The pitching duel

Clockwise from top left: Dodger Cody Bellinger strikes out in the eighth inning, Red Sox starting pitcher David Price throws in the first inning, Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal chases after a wild pitch, and Dodger starter Hyun-Jin Ryu throws a pitch. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Outfield ballet

Dodger Cody Bellinger makes a leaping catch between teammates Enrique Hernandez, left, and Chris Taylor.

Priceless

The Dodgers didn’t generate a baserunner after Yasiel’s Puig floated a two-out RBI single to center field to give them a 2-1 edge. Price retired the final seven batters he faced, continuing his dismissal of the playoff terrors that had haunted him for so many Octobers before this one. Joe Kelly and Nathan Eovaldi, each featuring 100-mph fastballs, tossed clean innings. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth and completed Boston’s 16-batter cruise through the Dodgers lineup in a 4-2 win.

The Dodgers mustered three hits and three walks in all. They trail 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

Down 2-0

A downcast Dodgers dugout during Game 2.

World Series Game 1 | Red Sox 8 Dodgers 4

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw looks at Red Sox baserunner J.D. Martinez before delivering a pitch in the first inning of Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway Park.

In the days leading up to Game 1, some Dodgers joked about how they would enjoy being treated like an underdog. That was before they absorbed the clout of their opponent in an 8-4 loss on Tuesday at Fenway Park. Boston met every Dodgers’ action with a more forceful reaction.

When the Dodgers bruised the ace of the Red Sox, Boston answered by taxing Clayton Kershaw for five runs. Boston pounced on every opening, burst through every sliver of space. When manager Dave Roberts inserted Alex Wood as a reliever in the seventh inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora countered with pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez. The subsequent three-run homer from Nunez robbed the final two innings of any drama.

Wild weather

A heavy cell of rain and lightning passes near Fenway Park nearly an hour before game time.

A rainbow is seen at Fenway Park prior to Game 1 of the 2018 World Series between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox.

Ground crew members pull a tarp off the field soon after a heavy rainstorm passed before Game 1 at Fenway Park.

History

Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, right, with longtime Red Sox star Dustin Pedroia after throwing out the first pitch before the start of Game 1.

Frustration

Dodger Cody Bellinger is frustrated after flying out to end a seventh-inning rally.

Action

Clockwise from top left: Max Muncy scores on a sacrifice fly as Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon bobbles the ball in the seventh inning, Dodgers second baseman Brian Dozier throws to first as Red Sox Steve Pearce slides in the fifth inning, Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws in the first inning, and Boston's Mookie Betts scores the first run of the game as Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes waits for the throw in the first inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Blooper

Dodgers Joc Pederson and Justin Turner cannot catch a bloop double by Andrew Benintendi in the seventh inning.

Celebration

Boston's Eduardo Nunez celebrates after hitting a three-run home run.

The Red Sox converted extra outs into runs, and capitalized on a strategic misfire by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. When Roberts inserted Alex Wood as a reliever in the seventh inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora countered with pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez. The subsequent three-run homer from Nunez robbed the final two innings of any drama.