Mookie Betts caps Boston return with a house run as Dodgers beat Crimson Sox 7-4

BOSTON (AP) — Mookie Betts capped his return to Boston with a second straight three-hit recreation, hitting a two-run homer on Sunday to spark the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-4 victory over the group he led to the 2018 World Sequence title.

Freddie Freeman additionally had three hits, and James Outman homered to assist the Dodgers enhance to 21-4 in August. Gavin Stone (1-0) earned his first profession victory, following opener Caleb Ferguson to the mound and holding Boston to 2 runs over the subsequent six innings earlier than giving up homers on back-to-back pitches to start out the eighth.

Taking part in in Boston for the primary time as a Crimson Sox opponent, Betts collected seven hits and a sequence of standing ovations over the three-game set, acknowledging the group with a wave of his batting helmet on Sunday earlier than he led off the sport with a single.

Freeman doubled him to 3rd, however Tanner Houck (3-8) received out of inning with out permitting a run. Los Angeles scored one run within the fourth and one other within the fifth earlier than Betts cleared the Inexperienced Monster within the sixth to make it 4-0.

It was his thirty fifth homer of the season, tying a profession excessive he set final yr. He pumped his arm as he rounded the bases, with the Fenway followers saluting the 2018 AL MVP with a combination of applause and chants of “Mookie!”

Triston Casas homered within the backside half for Boston earlier than Outman added an RBI single within the seventh. Betts singled in a single run and scored one other within the eighth to make it 7-2; it was 7-4 after Turner and Duvall chased Stone within the eighth.

Ex-Boston reliever Ryan Brasier relieved him and retired the subsequent three batters earlier than Evan Phillips pitched the ninth for his twenty first save.

Since beginning the season 3-0 with a 4.29 ERA, Houck has misplaced eight consecutive choices. He’s 0-2 in two begins since spending two months on the injured listing after getting hit within the face by a line drive on June 16.

ROUND-TRIPPER ROUNDUP

Casas’ two-run drive within the sixth made it 4-2 and gave the Crimson Sox 16 straight video games with a homer. It’s their longest such streak since August 2019. Boston has homered in 24 of its 25 August video games.

After homering to steer off three straight video games, Crimson Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo led off the underside of the primary with a groundout to Betts at second base. Verdugo’s three-game leadoff homer streak stays a Crimson Sox file and is tied for second-longest within the majors solely to Baltimore’s Brady Anderson, who did it in 4 video games in a row in 1996.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Crimson Sox: Positioned LHP Brennan Bernardino on the COVID-19-related injured listing and recalled LHP Chris Murphy from Triple-A Worcester.

UPCOMING

Dodgers: Open a three-game sequence at dwelling towards Arizona on Monday evening. RHP Bobby Miller (7-3) will begin for Los Angeles.

Crimson Sox: Play the primary of three video games towards the Astros on Monday evening, with LHP Chris Sale (5-3) dealing with Houston’s Cristian Javier (9-2).