Red Sox vs Dodgers Match Player Stats: Boston Wins 9-4

The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-4 at Dodger Stadium on Friday, July 31, after a five-run seventh inning overturned a 4-3 deficit in the opening game of the series, according to the completed game report.

Shohei Ohtani, 32, had put Los Angeles ahead with a two-run home run off Jovani Morán in the bottom of the fifth. The innings were not consecutive. The Red Sox went scoreless in the sixth before Ceddanne Rafaela, 25, began the decisive rally in the seventh.

The useful distinction is how each team built its lead. Ohtani supplied two runs with one swing. Boston moved ahead on Rafaela's homer, then kept the inning alive through a single, a bunt, Andruw Monasterio's two-run double and Jarren Duran's run-scoring ground ball.

Boston's five-run seventh

Rafaela came to the plate with Boston trailing 4-3 and hit a two-run home run off Cole Irvin, 32. The drive gave the Red Sox a 5-4 lead and was Rafaela's third hit of the game.

Masataka Yoshida followed with a single down the third-base line. Caleb Durbin then placed a bunt that loaded the bases after Los Angeles could not record an out on the play.

Monasterio, 29, doubled into the left-field corner to score two more runs. Duran, 29, brought in the fifth run of the inning with a ground ball, turning Boston's one-run deficit into an 8-4 lead.

The rally was built by four different hitters after Rafaela's home run. That continuation separated Boston's seventh from the Dodgers' fifth, when Ohtani's swing had completed a three-run inning but Los Angeles did not score again.

Boston added its ninth run in the ninth when Carlos Narváez, 27, delivered a sacrifice fly.

The win also carried an unresolved player-safety concern. Willson Contreras, 34, was removed after a 95.4 mph fastball struck his helmet in the third inning. He initially remained at first base, but Nick Sogard moved to first and Anthony Seigler entered at second for the bottom half of the inning.

Key player lines

The complete box score records Rafaela at 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. His seventh-inning homer changed the lead.

Monasterio's two-run double widened the lead from 5-4 to 7-4. Duran's ground ball supplied the final run of the inning, leaving Los Angeles four runs behind before it returned to bat.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. His home run was his 24th of the season and gave the Dodgers their only lead of the game.

Freddie Freeman, 36, went 3-for-4 with an RBI. His fourth-inning single drove in Ohtani and reduced Boston's lead to 3-1 before Los Angeles scored three times in the fifth.

Irvin allowed six runs on eight hits across six innings, with three walks and five strikeouts. It was his Dodgers debut and his first Major League appearance since September 2024.

Ranger Suárez, 30, started for Boston and worked 4⅔ innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and two walks. Morán replaced him and surrendered Ohtani's go-ahead homer.

Brayan Bello, 27, followed with four scoreless relief innings and earned the win. He allowed three hits and struck out three while covering the final 12 outs.

Ohtani's fifth-inning lead

Ohtani returned after missing the previous game with left knee discomfort and homered after Eliezer Alfonzo's run-scoring hit had brought Los Angeles within 3-2.

The two-run drive made it 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Boston then went down without scoring in the sixth, and the Dodgers left the bases loaded in the bottom half when Alfonzo grounded out with Ohtani waiting on deck.

That missed opportunity altered the shape of the game. Los Angeles had a chance to extend its lead before Boston faced Irvin again in the seventh. Instead, the margin remained one run, allowing Rafaela's homer to reverse the score when the Red Sox batted in the seventh.

The context differs from Ohtani's 432-foot three-run homer against the Athletics in June, which stretched a 5-3 lead to 8-3. Friday's home run created a narrow advantage, and the Dodgers did not add to it.

Irvin covers six innings in Dodgers debut

Los Angeles used Edgardo Henriquez, 24, as the opener before turning the game over to Irvin. Henriquez worked the first inning, and Will Klein handled the second and part of the third before Irvin entered with the bases loaded.

Irvin's six innings gave the Dodgers length in a planned bullpen game, but Boston reached him for the seventh-inning damage. He threw 102 pitches and remained in long enough to face Rafaela for the go-ahead homer and Monasterio for the two-run double.

Boston's pitching arrangement produced a different result. Suárez took the game into the fifth, Morán allowed the lead-changing home run, and Bello prevented Los Angeles from scoring over the final four innings.

Bello's work also preserved Boston's late-inning relievers for the remaining two games of the series.

The contrast was specific to this matchup. Los Angeles asked Irvin to absorb most of the game after an opener. Boston received four innings from a pitcher who had previously worked as a starter and used that length to close the game without another Dodgers run.

Boston finishes July 21-4

The victory completed a 21-4 July for Boston, a .840 winning percentage that stands as the best for a full month in franchise history. The Red Sox also improved to 12-3 since the All-Star break and 4-1 on their seven-game road trip.

Friday was not a wire-to-wire win. Boston led 3-0, allowed Los Angeles to score four unanswered runs, then regained control with six unanswered runs of its own.

The Red Sox recovered after losing an early three-run advantage, but the response depended on more than Rafaela's homer. Yoshida's single, Durbin's bunt, Monasterio's double and Duran's ground ball prevented the inning from ending as a one-run lead.

Los Angeles had opportunities to change the same sequence. The Dodgers left the bases loaded in the sixth and stranded two more runners in the eighth after Freeman and Kyle Tucker reached safely.

Boston's July record was therefore extended by the innings immediately around the seventh. Bello kept the deficit at one in the sixth, the lineup scored five in the seventh, and Bello then protected the four-run margin through the ninth.

Yamamoto scheduled for Game 2

The series is scheduled to continue at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, August 1, at 6:10 p.m. PT and 9:10 p.m. ET. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 27, is due to start for Los Angeles against Boston left-hander Payton Tolle, 23, with the game listed on the Red Sox's official August schedule.

Yamamoto gives Los Angeles a conventional starter after the Dodgers used an opener and Irvin in the series opener. Tolle enters after Boston received only 4⅔ innings from Suárez but preserved its late bullpen through Bello's extended relief appearance.

Boston scored nine runs against a bullpen plan on Friday. It is not yet known whether the Red Sox can create another extended inning against Yamamoto, or whether Contreras will be available after leaving the opener following the pitch to his helmet.