Pearce rallies Red Sox past Dodgers for 3-1 lead
LOS ANGELES — An 18-inning loss in Game 3 of the World Series couldn’t wear out the Boston Red Sox. A four-run deficit late in Game 4 definitely didn’t faze them.
This plucky powerhouse just kept getting big hits to move to the brink of another championship.
Steve Pearce hit a tying homer in the eighth and a three-run double in the ninth, and the Red Sox emphatically rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
Pinch-hitter Rafael Devers singled home Brock Holt with the tiebreaking run in the ninth as Boston roared to a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.
Game 5 is Sunday at Dodger Stadium, where the Red Sox have a chance to close out a spectacular season with their fourth title in 15 years.
Shortly after Yasiel Puig’s three-run homer in the sixth put the Dodgers up 4-0, Boston’s incredible surge began with pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland’s three-run homer.
The Red Sox will have trouble topping this performance, in which they overcame a three-run deficit in a World Series game for only the second time. Boston also rallied from three runs down against Cincinnati in 1975 in Game 6, best known for Carlton Fisk’s dramatic homer in the 12th after Bernie Carbo tied it with a three-run shot.
Pearce was an unlikely candidate to become the latest postseason hero in Boston’s lengthy October history, but he did it twice. The 35-year-old journeyman connected off All-Star closer Kenley Jansen for the tying homer in the eighth, and he cleared the bases one inning later with a double to the gap.
After escape, this the impressive superlative Boston roster that won 108 regular-season games and then rolled through the 100win New York Yankees and the defending champion Houston Astros to win the AL pennant is now one win from this formerly tormented franchise’s ninth World Series crown.
Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Los Angeles.
Devers added a big defensive play in the ninth when he slid to stop Manny Machado’s hard grounder at third before throwing across the diamond to get the Dodgers slugger for the second out. Craig Kimbrel then got Cody Bellinger on a fly to end it, leaving Puig in the on-deck circle.
Less than 17 hours after Max Muncy’s 18th-inning homer for the Dodgers ended the longest game in World Series history at 7 hours, 20 minutes, the teams were back on the field in Chavez Ravine.
Game 4 was only 3 hours, 57 minutes, but had at least as many dramatic twists.
Muncy went 1 for 5 in Game 4 after his early-morning heroics for the Dodgers, who must overcome a 3-1 deficit to end their 30-year championship drought. Only six teams have accomplished the feat in the World Series, although the Chicago Cubs did it just two years ago.
After Dodgers starter Rich Hill baffled Boston with onehit ball into the seventh inning, Los Angeles was up 4-0 and needing just seven outs to even the series. The Dodgers’ embattled bullpen was shredded by Boston’s bats.
Moreland got the comeback started with his threerun shot off Ryan Madson.
Pearce then repeated the Game 3 feat of Jackie Bradley Jr., who also hit a tying homer off Jansen in the eighth.
Pearce even scored Boston’s ninth run on Xander Bogaerts’ single, celebrating wildly with his teammates in quiet Chavez Ravine.
Pitching actually dominated early in Game 4 on the second straight postcardperfect night at Dodger Stadium.
These big-budget lineups combined for just three hits in the first five scoreless innings — and they needed only about 90 minutes to play them after Friday’s 440-minute affair.
Hill was also dominant early in his third career World Series start, allowing no hits until Christian Vazquez’s single in the fifth.
The Dodgers finally got it going in the sixth when Rodriguez hit leadoff hitter David Freese with a pitch near the knee and Justin Turner doubled down the left-field line to send pinch-runner Hernandez to third. With the bases loaded, Bellinger grounded to first and Boston got the force at home, but Vazquez’s throw sailed past first base and down the right field line, allowing Turner to scamper home.
Puig then crushed a 92 mph fastball over the middle deep into the left-field bleachers, raising his arms in triumph while Rodriguez slammed down his glove in pure frustration. The ebullient Cuban right fielder has gone in and out of favor in Los Angeles, but his homer was his 50th postseason hit, fourth-most in Dodgers history.
The LA bullpen that threw 11 innings of five-hit ball in Game 3 only needed to get eight outs — but it didn’t happen. Embattled righthander Ryan Madson left a changeup over the middle to Moreland, who bashed it into right for his first homer of this postseason.