Dodgers drop game one to Red Sox 8-4

BOSTON — For 163 games during the regular season and 11 more in October, the Dodgers could comfort themselves by knowing they possessed more talent than the other club on the field. No team holstered more firepower. No opposing roster stockpiled more depth. No clubhouse boasted a more effective blend of superstars and role players. When the standings suggested the Dodgers were bound for an early winter, the team steeled itself with self-confidence.

As the Dodgers sputtered through the summer, a budding juggernaut developed on the East Coast. The Boston Red Sox won 108 games this season, more than any team in 17 years, and picked up steam in the playoffs. Boston brushed aside a 100-win Yankees team and blitzed the defending champions from Houston to set up a date with the Dodgers in the World Series.

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 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.

Little unfolded in the Dodgers’ favor on Tuesday. The pitcher’s duel between Kershaw and Red Sox ace Chris Sale never materialized. Neither man could record an out in the fifth inning. Sale departed with one runner aboard. Kershaw permitted two before Roberts intervened. Sale allowed three runs.

Two of the runs charged to Kershaw Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox, left, congratulates teammate Andrew Benintendi after Benintendi scored against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game One of the World Series at Fenway Park in Boston.

were scored with reliever Ryan Madson on the mound. The Dodgers had designated Madson as the fireman of their bullpen, a veteran reliever with an elite fastball.

Madson only fanned the flames on Tuesday, throwing a wild pitch, walking a batter and giving up an RBI single as the Red Sox pulled ahead in the fifth.