LOS ANGELES — The last time the Boston Red Sox came to Dodger Stadium, they played an 18-inning, seven-hour, 20-minute marathon during the 2018 World Series.
By comparison, this one was a breeze.
The Dodgers and Red Sox swapped leads four times, the Saturday afternoon seesaw finally ending when Will Smith stroked an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the Dodgers a 7-6 walkoff win.
It was the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive game in which the lead changed hands in the eighth inning or later. And it had been changing hands all day.
Dodgers relievers let two leads get away Saturday afternoon then Evan Phillips gave up a two-run home run in the 10th inning. Even former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got in on the act. He couldn’t protect a one-run lead in the ninth for the Red Sox, giving up his first home run of the season and blowing his first save since April when Kike’ Hernandez led off the inning with a game-tying home run.
The Dodgers’ bullpen was also the guilty party in back-to-back walkoff defeats in the final two games before the All-Star break. And Friday’s game was decided by Freddie Freeman’s eighth-inning grand slam.
It was that kind of day Saturday — eventually. The 4:15 p.m. start brought shadows into play early and the only run in the first four innings came on a solo home run by Gavin Lux.
It was the best of Justin Wrobleski’s three big-league starts. The rookie left-hander held the Red Sox scoreless into the fifth inning, retiring left-handed hitting Dominic Smith on a fly ball to start that inning.
But six of the eight runs Wrobleski gave up in his first two starts came in the fourth or fifth inning. Smith was the 17th batter Wrobleski faced and the fly ball came on his 83rd pitch of the day (one short of his big-league high). That was as far as the Dodgers had decided they wanted the 24-year-old to go. So Dave Roberts waved for the bullpen.
Three consecutive hits followed off right-hander Yohan Ramirez and the one-run lead disappeared.
But the Dodgers got it back an inning later. Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom of the sixth with a line drive that split the gap in left-center field for a double. After Will Smith struck out, Red Sox starter Brayan Bello worked Freeman carefully after his Friday heroics and walked him.
Teoscar Hernandez drove Ohtani in with the tying run on a single to right field and both runners moved up on a wild throw from right fielder Wilyer Abreu. That error set up a sacrifice fly by Andy Pages to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
But Banda was the wrong choice to protect the Dodgers’ second one-run lead of the day. The first batter he faced, Rob Refsnyder, drove a ball to the wall in center field. James Outman crashed into the wall to make a spectacular catch.
After Banda walked Jarren Duran, there was nothing Outman or any other Dodgers outfielder could do to get Tyler O’Neill’s 399-foot drive (appropriately) into the Dodgers’ bullpen. The two-run home run put the Red Sox back on top.
The Dodgers were all set to keep the seesaw going when back-to-back singles by Freeman and Hernandez and a walk of Pages loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning. But Miguel Rojas checked his swing on a 2-and-0 pitch well below the strike zone and dribbled it back to Sox reliever Josh Winckowski. Winckowski shoveled it to catcher Connor Wong to start a 1-2-3 double play that ended the Dodgers’ threat.
Jansen came on in the ninth having closed out 19 of 20 save opportunities for the Red Sox this season. Teammates in both Boston and Los Angeles, Kike’ Hernandez sent one of Jansen’s cutters into the left-field pavilion to tie the game.
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Phillips was part of blowing a five-run lead in the ninth inning in the final game before the break and he started his second half by leaving a sweeper up and over the plate. O’Neill hammered it for his second home run of the game.
The Dodgers made it a one-run game again in the 10th inning on Pages’ RBI double then Kike’ Hernandez came through with a game-tying hit for the second consecutive inning. His two-out, two-strike RBI single drove Pages in and kept the game going.
Blake Treinen finally put up a zero from the Dodgers’ bullpen in the top of the 11th. Walks loaded the bases for Smith who sent his game-winning single through a five-man infield to end things.
