Fenway Goes Quiet as Dodgers Outclass Sox 5-2
James Dalfino
Friday night at Fenway: 36,000 optimists filed in, Red Sox caps tilted just so, clutching overpriced beers and dreams of wildcard glory. What they got instead? A masterclass in “Here’s how a real team plays,” courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While Boston politely flailed their way through nine innings, the Dodgers brought out their All-Star ensemble — Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández — just in case anyone forgot that the West Coast still knows what baseball is supposed to look like.
Brayan Bello took the mound and gave us five and a third innings of competent mediocrity: six hits, three earned runs, five strikeouts, and enough sweat to fill the Charles. He wasn’t awful, which is unfortunately the best thing we can say.
He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, striking out Freeman and Hernández, which momentarily tricked us into thinking momentum was a thing. The ERA nudged up to 3.32, so technically he's still above average. Technically. As in, “if you squint and pretend the Dodgers aren’t in town.”
Connor Wong ripped a double off the Monster in the third, Jarren Duran added an RBI single, and Alex Bregman made it 3-2 with a little double of his own. Fenway briefly erupted in the kind of celebratory confusion only Boston can muster when trailing by one to a superior team.
Then… nothing. Boston’s offense hit the snooze button and didn’t bother setting another alarm. Emmet Sheehan, channeling his inner Cy Young and his actual Boston College roots, silenced the bats for five innings. The Dodgers bullpen closed the door, drew the curtains, and turned off the porch light.
Eighth inning. Jorge Alcala on the mound. Teoscar Hernández, who up to this point had merely toyed with us, decided to make it official: two-run moonshot to…
