Field Level Media
Jul 13, 2019
Justin Turner and Max Muncy each homered and had three hits, while Cody Bellinger added a solo shot and two RBIs on his 24th birthday, as the Los Angeles Dodgers pummeled the host Boston Red Sox 11-2 on Saturday night.
A.J. Pollock also went deep as the Dodgers ended their losing streak at four games. Ross Stripling (4-3) got the win, giving up one run on four hits and striking out seven in five innings.
Red Sox starter Chris Sale allowed five runs on seven hits and one walk while fanning seven in 4 2/3 innings - his shortest start since April 9. The left-hander has now given up five runs in three consecutive starts for the first time in his career.
Boston had a five-game winning streak snapped.
Sale (3-9) also lost his last time out in his final start before the All-Star break. After the outing, he called his first half "absolutely embarrassing" and told reporters he was "as frustrated as I've ever been."
His second half began with more of the same as Los Angeles struck in the first inning on an RBI single from Pollock. Turner's homer over the Green Monster in left field made it 2-0 in the third inning.
Xander Bogaerts got Boston on the board when he homered in the fourth, the third time in his last four games he has gone deep.
Los Angeles expanded its lead to 5-1 in the fifth when Turner doubled home a run and David Freese followed him with a two-run double. Sale retired Bellinger on a sharp lineout for the second out before he was pulled.
The Red Sox got a run back on a Bogaerts RBI single in the sixth and Boston brought the tying run to the plate against their former teammate, Joe Kelly, but the right-hander struck out Christian Vazquez on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to escape the jam.
Bellinger and Pollock went back-to-back off knuckleballer Steven Wright in a four-run seventh that put the game away for the Dodgers. Wright was removed in the frame after sustaining an apparent foot injury on a Muncy comebacker.
Los Angeles added a Bellinger sacrifice fly in the eighth and Muncy's homer in the ninth to complete the scoring.
-Field Level Media