Freddie Freeman grand slam powers Dodgers to victory over Red Sox
Freddie Freeman provided the thunder in Dodger Stadium on Friday night, lining a grand slam into the right-field bullpen in the eighth inning to turn what looked like a desultory loss to the Boston Red Sox into a dramatic 4-1 victory in front of a crowd of 51,562.
But it was a web gem by a novice of a left fielder whose seventh-inning defensive gaffe nearly cost his team dearly that lit the spark for a comeback that the Dodgers hope sets a better tone for the second half.
Chavez Ravine was silent for most of the first seven innings, as Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta blanked the Dodgers on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk through six and Boston reliever Zack Kelly threw a scoreless seventh. Boston held a 1-0 lead on the strength of Jarren Duran’s solo home run in the fifth.
The mood in the stadium dampened even more in the top of the seventh when Dominic Smith led off with a deep fly ball to the gap in left-center that Dodgers left fielder Miguel Vargas dropped when he cut in front of center fielder Andy Pages, who was calling for the ball, a play that was generously ruled a double.
Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia stiffened, striking out Ceddanne Rafaela with an 85-mph changeup, pinch-hitter Connor Wong with a 93-mph fastball and Duran with a 93-mph fastball to complete a 30-pitch inning and preserve the 1-0 deficit.
Vargas, an infielder who was moved to the outfield at triple A last summer, atoned for his miscue in the eighth when he raced in to catch a Rafael Devers fly ball and fired a throw to Freeman at first base to double off Tyler O’Neill, who did not go full speed back into the bag. The crowd finally began to stir.
“Yeah, we didn’t do much for the crowd to get into it tonight up to that point,” Freeman said. “I think the crowd was waiting for something to happen, and Vargy throwing that guy out kind of helped.”
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Vargas then opened the bottom of the eighth with a walk, avoiding a full-count, 91-mph cut-fastball at his head from Kelly for ball four. Chris Taylor struck out, but Shohei Ohtani, who looked overmatched while striking out in his first three at-bats against Pivetta, sliced a one-out ground-rule double to left off left-hander Brennan Bernardino.
Will Smith was intentionally walked to load the bases for the left-handed-hitting Freeman, who hooked a down-and-in, 0-and-1 curveball over the right-field bullpen gate for his seventh career grand slam and a 4-1 lead, as chants of “Freddie! Freddie!” filled Chavez Ravine and Freeman came out for a curtain call.
Daniel Hudson gave up a single in a scoreless ninth for his fifth save, as the Dodgers, who lost six of seven games heading into the All-Star break, maintained their seven-game lead over Arizona in the National League West.
“One moment in time, one at-bat, I’ll take Freddie against anyone in any big spot, regardless of handedness,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They’re setting up a potential double-play ball [with the walk], they had the right-hander behind Bernardino, so I get it. It was good to be on the good side of that.”
Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone rebounded from two rocky starts in which he gave up eight runs and 16 hits in 7⅔ innings to Arizona and Philadelphia to yield one run and six hits in five innings, striking out three and walking none, against the Red Sox.
His only blemish was a changeup that caught too much of the plate to Duran, the All-Star Game most valuable player who crushed his 11th homer of the season over the center-field wall in the fifth.
Stone’s outing halted a brutal stretch in which Dodgers starters gave up 56 earned runs and 84 hits, including 17 homers, in 61⅓ innings of 15 games before the All-Star break for an 8.22 ERA.
Stone pitched around Duran’s leadoff double in the first. He took a 113.6-mph comebacker off the bat of Devers off his right calf for an infield single that put two on with no outs in the fourth.
But he got Masataka Yoshida to fly to center field, O’Neill advancing to third, struck out Wilyer Abreu swinging at a 95-mph fastball and got Smith to ground out to shortstop, preserving the scoreless tie.
Boston threatened in the seventh when Vargas gifted Smith with a leadoff double, the second time this season a ball dropped on a near-collision between Vargas and Pages.
“I didn’t hear him — it was too loud,” Vargas said. “I have to respect his priority, too, so I take the whole responsibility for that.”
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But Vargas made amends with his double play to end the eighth, getting an assist from shortstop Miguel Rojas, who deked O’Neill just enough at second base to delay the Red Sox runner’s retreat back to first.
“That was a weird play,” Vargas said. “You don’t see a lot of assists from the outfield like that. I saw him jogging back slowly, so I said, ‘Maybe I got him.’ ”
Freeman took it from there, the 15-year veteran’s eyes lighting up when Red Sox manager Alex Cora elected to walk Smith intentionally to load the bases in the bottom of the eighth.
“It’s an opportunity to drive in runs — that’s all I care about,” Freeman said. “You can walk all the people you want. That’s part of the game. It’s strategy, a sinker-baller who can throw the sinker in. I could roll it over and hit into a double play. It’s the right move. But sometimes it doesn’t work.”
This one worked out well for the Dodgers, as Freeman delivered his fifth hit in nine at-bats with the bases loaded this season. He is 19 for 47 with the bases loaded in three seasons with the Dodgers.
“From the other dugout, it’s a no-win situation, pick your poison,” Roberts said. “That’s a tough one. It started because of Vargy getting on base and Shohei’s double, which kind of put the onus on the manager, A.C., to make a decision.”
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