❚ A review of Games 1 to 5 with box scores,
A game-by-game look at the 2018 World Series:
Game 1: Oct. 23
Red Sox 8, Dodgers 4 Site: Boston Neither Chris Sale nor Clayton Kershaw can record an out after the fourth inning, and Boston relievers outpitch their Los Angeles counterparts. With one out, the bases loaded and the score tied 3-3 in the fifth, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, facing reliever Ryan Madson, smacks a ground ball to shortstop Manny Machado Red Sox 8, Dodgers 4 that looks like a potential double play. But Bogaerts hustles to beat out second baseman Brian Dozier’s relay throw to first. The play extends the inning for Rafael Devers to single home Boston’s fifth run. In the seventh, Red Sox pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez crushes a threerun homer over the Green Monster against Alex Wood to give Boston an insurmountable lead. Benintendi, the Red Sox’s left fielder, has hits in all three of Boston’s first three run-scoring rallies.
Quotable: “I don’t really Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2
000 200 000 010 030 00X — 2 —4 care. I’m won.”
— Benintendi on becoming the third player in Red Sox history to record four hits in a World Series game, following Jacoby Ellsbury in Game 3 of the 2007 Series and Wally Moses in Game 4 in 1946. just glad we
Game 2: Oct. 24
Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2 Site: Boston
Red Sox starter David Price, who had gone winless in his first 11 career postseason starts, works six innings to earn his second playoff victory in a row. The left-hander succeeds by mixing locations with fastballs and keeping Dodgers hitters off balance to yield weak contact. Los Angeles starter Hyun-Jin Ryu allows one run over the first four innings but leaves the game with two outs in the fifth inning after two singles and a walk load the bases when the Dodgers have a 2-1 lead. Just as in Game 1, reliever Ryan Madson allows all of his inherited runners to score. A walk to Steve Pearce forces in the tying run before a J.D. Martinez liner to right field drives home two Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2 more runs. Quotable:
Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland on Price.
Game 3
Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2 (18 innings)
Site: Los Angeles Max Muncy’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the 18th inning gives the Dodgers a win in the longest game in World Series history (7 hours, 20 minutes). The homer saves a terrific effort by rookie starter Walker Buehler, who leaves with a one-run lead (on Joc Pederson’s third-inning home run) after seven innings. But with two outs in the eighth, Kenley Jansen gives up a Jackie Bradley Jr. homer to right to tie the score. The score is tied 1-1 in the 13th when a Scott Alexander pitch skips away from Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes. The pitch bounces in front of Eduardo Nunez, who collides with Barnes while trying to get out of his way but stays in the game with no position players remaining on Boston’s bench. Nunez hits a slow tapper toward first, and second baseman Enrique Hernandez, covering first, can’t handle Alexander’s throw, allowing Brock Holt to score from second. Nunez crumples over in pain as he crosses first. Second baseman Ian Kinsler’s throwing error on a Yasiel Puig grounder in the bottom of the 13th allows Muncy to score from second to tie the score again. Nathan Eovaldi throws six scoreless innings before Muncy homers to left against him to end the game.
Quotable: “This happens in this dream right now . ... This whole year has been a surreal experience that it’s hard to put into words. Just getting a chance to play in the World Series has kind of capped it off. And then getting a chance to hit a walk-off home run, obviously there’s not many words I can use to describe that.”
— Muncy, who was unemployed a year ago, released by the Oakland Athletics.