LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a 473-foot home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series.
“Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball. And then to come out fresh against a really good ballclub and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said.
It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game and first since 2022 against Kansas City. Five came off Boston starter Kutter Crawford (6-8).
“I think just winning, coming back from behind to win a lot of these games, difficult situation, it really creates a lot of momentum for the team. So hoping to continue that moving forward,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Jarren Duran, the MVP of last Tuesday’s All-Star Game, homered and drove in four runs for the Red Sox (53-45), who fell a game behind the Royals (55-45) for the final AL wild card.
“The one thing they do is they hit a ball in the air, obviously. They get pitches in the zone, they hit it in the air and they hit a few homers,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
James Paxton (8-2) allowed three runs on four hits and struck out seven in five innings. Boston rallied for three runs in the ninth, but Daniel Hudson came in for his sixth save.
Barnes’ solo shot gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead in the fifth, and Ohtani drove a cutter from Crawford 473 feet over the bleachers to become the first NL player with 30 homers this season. Aaron Judge leads the majors with 35.
According to fans in the area, the ball sailed between the pavilion roof and an advertisement sign in right-center field, but it cleared the concourse and landed on the walkway in the ballpark plaza.
“I was looking but I really couldn’t see where it went,” said Ohtani, who has homered at least 30 times in four straight seasons. “Everybody was like kind of semi-impressed.”
Crawford allowed six runs and seven hits in five-plus innings. He became the first Boston starter since Nathan Eovaldi in 2022 to allow five homers in a game.
“They’ve got a good lineup. It’s pretty deep. They force you to make pitches and execute. And when you don’t execute they do some damage,” Crawford said. “I left a few pitches over the middle of the plate and they didn’t miss.”
Boston took a 2-0 lead three pitches into the game. Romy Gonzalez led off with a double on the first pitch before Duran drove Paxton’s fastball into the bleachers in left-center.
Duran went 6 for 12 with two home runs and seven RBIs in the series.
The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half on Freeman’s solo shot to right-center and Lux’s RBI double.
Hernández, the winner of last Monday’s Home Run Derby, gave Los Angeles the lead when he connected on a drive that just got over the short wall near the right-field corner.
Lux had a solo shot in the fourth and Heyward, activated off the injured list before the game, hit a two-run drive off former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen in the eighth.
“I thought we swung the bat pretty well in Detroit and then it’s carried over here,” Barnes said. “Obviously, we pitched well the first two days and those were good wins. And we put some offensive days together. Yeah, it’s nice to score runs. It’s easier to pitch that way, for sure.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: OF Rob Refsnyder was scratched from the lineup due to left shoulder soreness after trying to make a diving catch on Saturday.
Dodgers: SS Miguel Rojas left in the fourth inning due to right forearm tightness. He is expected to be out of the lineup on Monday.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: RHP Tanner Houck (8-6), fourth in the majors with a 2.54 ERA, will start Monday’s series opener at Colorado.
Dodgers: RHP River Ryan is expected to be called up for his big league debut Monday against San Francisco.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
