It was an eventful eighth inning at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, but the Red Sox weren’t able to make the key plays to earn the series-opening win against the Dodgers.
Boston lost, 4-1, to Los Angeles despite a strong outing from starter Nick Pivetta. Jarren Duran got the Red Sox going early with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning, and they had a chance to add more insurance runs for the bullpen in the top of the eighth inning. However, after a Rafael Devers flyout was caught in shallow left field, Tyler O’Neill failed to hustle back to first, and Miguel Vargas completed the double play and ended the inning.
Manager Alex Cora revealed O’Neill took accountability for his baserunning error, which proved costly after Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam to seal the matchup for LA.
It was a nice heads-up play from Vargas, who has relied upon as the Dodgers fight through multiple injuries.
“That was a weird play. You don’t see a lot of assists from the outfield like that,” Vargas told reporters, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. “I saw him jogging back slowly, so I said, ‘Maybe I got him.'”
Boston will look to even up the three-game series Saturday. First pitch is scheduled at 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX.
