Los Angeles @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2024 ) Boston 6, LA Dodgers 9
The Los Angeles Dodgers will be without a key piece of their lineup Friday when they begin a nine-game road trip by opening a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.
Shortstop Mookie Betts did not travel to Boston with the team and will not play Friday as he deals with a personal matter.
Following Wednesday's 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts, "There might be some things going on that he might not be around, that he's got to deal with personally. Everything is OK with him, but yeah, we'll see."
Roberts told reporters Friday Betts is expected to arrive in Boston around the time of the first pitch for Saturday night's contest, but he isn't sure whether Betts will be in the lineup for the second game of the series.
The 32-year-old spent the first six seasons of his career in Boston and was the American League MVP in 2018, when he led the Red Sox to a World Series victory over the Dodgers. Betts was traded to the Dodgers in 2020 for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong. He's been an All-Star and earned MVP votes in four of his first five years with Los Angeles.
Betts started a ninth-inning rally in Wednesday's win with a two-out infield single. After Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked and Esteury Ruiz worked a walk to load the bases, Freddie Freeman hit a game-ending two-run single.
The Dodgers are 2-4 since the All-Star break after going 2-7 before it.
"We needed that one," said Freeman, who was hitting .210 in July before collecting two hits Wednesday. "That was a huge win for us. Huge series win."
Boston will likely be short-handed for the weekend series as well, since third baseman Marcelo Mayer left Wednesday's 9-8 victory over Philadelphia in the fifth inning and was wearing a brace on his right wrist following the game. Mayer said he expects to have an MRI soon.
"I just felt a little tight grab in my wrist when I took a swing in my second at-bat," Mayer said. "I knew I really couldn't do anything after that, so I just called it (a day)."
Boston catcher Carlos Narvaez hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning of Wednesday's win after being called for catcher's interference against the Phillies on Monday and Tuesday. The Phillies prevailed 3-2 Monday when the interference call came with no outs and the bases loaded in the 10th inning.
"You gotta move forward," Narvaez said. "You gotta stay on the attack mode."
Like the Dodgers, the Red Sox are 2-4 since the All-Star break.
Friday's pitching matchup features a pair of right-handers in Boston's Brayan Bello (6-4, 3.23 ERA) and Los Angeles' Emmet Sheehan (1-1. 4.41 ERA).
Bello allowed three runs on five hits in six innings during his only career appearance against the Dodgers last season. Sheehan, who pitched at nearby Boston College, has never faced the Red Sox.
Ohtani enters Friday's matchup with a home run in each of his last five games. The MLB record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, held by Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993).
"I do know that if he has the same approach that he's had, that Green Monster is very short, so any fly ball that he hits will be a homer," Roberts said of Ohtani, who has a pair of long home runs toward left field this week. "So he's just got to continue to have that same approach when we go to Boston, and then we'll see what happens."
--Field Level Media