Los Angeles @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 4, Boston 5
Although the injuries keep mounting, the wins keep coming for the Boston Red Sox.
Boston plays host to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the finale of a three-game interleague series at Fenway Park on Sunday night.
The Red Sox have won five straight and seven of eight on a homestand that has moved them to just one game out of first place in the American League East Division standings.
Boston defeated Los Angeles 5-4 on Saturday on a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning by Dustin Pedroia. The Red Sox were forced to start an outfield of Daniel Nava, Darnell McDonald and Bill Hall hitting 7-8-9 in the order as J.D. Drew joined the mass of injuries to the Red Sox outfield.
Hall made two costly errors in the game - his third career start in right field - but he led off the ninth with a crucial single.
The Red Sox seem immune to the injuries. They’re 8-0-3 in their last 11 series despite placing eight players on the disabled list this year, including starting outfielders Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury. They’ve used nine different players in the outfield this year.
Drew left Friday night’s game with a hamstring injury but the Red Sox don’t think he’ll need a stint on the disabled list, although they had not seen the results of an MRI exam on Saturday.
Boston optioned Friday night’s winning pitcher Felix Doubront back to Triple-A Pawtucket, and right-handed reliever Robert Manuel was called up from Pawtucket to take his place on the roster.
Boston is 9-2 in interleague games this season but things should get a lot tougher next week when it travels to Colorado and faces Ubaldo Jimenez and then to San Francisco for a date with Tim Lincecum.
Clay Buchholz starts tonight for Boston looking to join Tampa Bay’s David Price and New York’s Phil Hughes for the AL lead with 10 wins.
The Dodgers hope to salvage the series finale with Hideki Kuroda on the mound. On Saturday, Manny Ramirez homered and L.A. rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game.
L.A. managed just six hits in the contest, two from Ramirez, in its sixth straight interleague loss.
Dodgers reliever Hong Chih-Kuo retired all four batters he faced in the game, but the combination of Ronald Belasario and Jonathan Broxton surrendered the winning run in the ninth.
Chih-Kuo, the 2009 Minor League player of the year, has retired all 22 left-handed hitters he’s faced this season, striking out 11.
The Dodgers placed Friday night’s starter, rookie right-hander Carlos Monasterios, on the disabled list with a blister on his right middle finger and a split nail on his right index finger on Saturday.