Nunez fires Red Sox in Game 1 to stun Dodgers
BOSTON pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez smashed a three-run homer over the towering “Green Monster” left-field wall and the Red Sox held off the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 in Tuesday’s World Series opener.
With Boston clinging to a one-run lead, the 31-year-old Dominican reserve infielder blasted the seventh-inning offering from Dodgers reliever Alex Wood over the Fenway Park landmark and the Red Sox seized the lead in Major League Baseball’s best-of-7 final, which continues in Boston today.
“I know he throws lot of off-speed,” Nunez said. “I know he doesn’t want me to beat him with fastball, so I will see all atbat something soft and he do it twice.”
Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi became only the third Red Sox batter with four hits in a World Series game after Jacoby Ellsbury in 2007 and Wally Moses in 1946, scoring three times in the hosts’ triumph.
“We were able to execute,” Benintendi said. “For the most part we were able to do what we wanted to do. We were able to get on the board early and often.”
The Red Sox are seeking a ninth title overall, the first since 2013 and fourth in 15 seasons, while the Dodgers, who fell one win shy of last year’s crown, chase their seventh World Series trophy but first since 1988.
Windy and rain-drenched Fenway Park had the coldest conditions the Dodgers had endured all year, but they twice rallied to equalize until Nunez broke open the back and forth contest.
“From the first at-bat, we put pressure on them. That’s what we do,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We attacked pitches in the middle of the strike zone and we did an outstanding job offensively.”
Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado, despised by Red Sox fans after a 2017 slide that injured Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, ignored boos and derisive chants to drive in three runs.
Machado smacked a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to centerfield in the seventh inning that scored pinch hitter Max Muncy from third base to pull Los Angeles within 5-4.
In the Boston seventh, Benintendi lofted a ground-rule double and JD Martinez was walked before the Dodgers pulled reliever Pedro Baez for Wood. Cora inserted Nunez, who delivered the decisive blow.
With the teams sending out their aces, Game 1 had offered the promise of a marquee pitching duel between Red Sox 7-time all-star Chris Sale and Dodgers 3-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. But both starters lasted just four-plus innings.