Red Sox seize control of Fall Classic with 2 wins
BOSTON >> A quick glance at the schedule shows that Game 6 of the World Series is scheduled to be played on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at Fenway Park.
A quick glance at the first two games would show that it’s unlikely the series ever gets back there.
An 8-4 win by the Boston Red Sox over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 and Wednesday’s 4-2 triumph have simply reinforced what they’d showed throughout the course of the regular season: They’re the best team in baseball, and they’re now two wins away from having the trophy to prove it.
“I mean, at least we know if things don’t go well in LA, we’re coming back. So that’s good,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
“We played two good games. Today a tough one. They pitched well. We put some good at-bats. We pitched extremely well. David (Price) was amazing. And then the bullpen did what they’ve been doing during October and now we’re up 2-0.”
Boston used a clutch, pinch-hit homer from former Trenton Thunder infielder Eduardo Nunez to get the win on Tuesday, another example of Cora seemingly hitting all the right buttons from the bench. On the flip side, many have been critical of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who had sluggers Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson on the bench against lefthanded starting pitching.
The Dodgers have hit just .174 (11-for-63) in the first two games.
“Well, Game 3 it’s going to be a different lineup,” Roberts told reporters after the game.
“I assume we’re going to see (RHP Rick) Porcello, so it will be different right there. But as far as at the top, Justin Turner has been at the top, second or third, all year long. There’s no reason to move him. And I think Brian Dozier against a lefty, these first two games, I thought his at-bat quality was pretty good. And so now you’re looking at Manny (Machado), who I think has had some good at-bats. And David Freese in the 3, I think he’s probably had our best at-bats top to bottom in these first two games. But we’re going to shuffle it up for Game 3, but it’s not because of necessarily performance, it’s kind of who the starting pitcher for those guys is. But these are the guys that got us here, and we’re going to ride them out.”
While it remains to be seen if the series gets back to Fenway, it’s certainly headed to Dodger Stadium, where the teams will play Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) over three consecutive days starting Friday night.
However, the Red Sox are still carrying the momentum from a year in which they went 108-54 to post the best record in the big leagues — 16 more wins than a Dodgers team that squeaked out a National League West pennant by one game over the Colorado Rockies.
And while whoever Roberts puts in his lineup will certainly have to be more productive than the starting nine that got shut down on back-to-back nights in Beantown, it ultimately may not matter given how potent the Boston offense — they lead all playoff teams with a .261 batting average — has proven to be.
“Yeah, it’s hard to have guys that slug like Pederson, Muncy, Bellinger on the bench, but this is something that we’ve done a lot in September and throughout the postseason and it’s proved to be successful,” Roberts said. “And those guys are still getting in games and staying current. But, again, when guys are in there, they’ve just got to be productive. So, we’ve got a lot of good players and we’ve got a long way to go.