Crochet Outduels Kershaw as Red Sox Top Dodgers in Frustrating 4-2 Loss
The Boston Red Sox delivered a frustrating defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, securing a 4-2 victory at Fenway Park largely due to the dominant performance of starting pitcher Garrett Crochet. Despite early home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers offense sputtered against Crochet’s relentless pitching, while veteran Clayton Kershaw struggled to contain the Red Sox lineup.
Despite a promising start, the Dodgers fell victim to a Red Sox team that capitalized on key moments. “I thought we played hard. I thought we competed,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He made pitches when he needed to.”
The game unfolded as a battle of margins, defined by high-leverage at-bats, tense two-strike counts, and aggressive base running that ultimately backfired. Crochet proved to be the difference-maker, outperforming Kershaw with a combination of velocity and precision. While Crochet effectively limited damage throughout his six-inning start, striking out 10 and preventing any of the eight Dodgers who reached base from scoring, Kershaw faltered under pressure.
Kershaw, making his first regular-season start at Fenway Park since the 2018 World Series, appeared to be battling his mechanics early on, struggling to find his command. “Obviously, when you’re facing a guy like Crochet, there’s not gonna be a ton of runs,” Kershaw acknowledged, recognizing the challenge. “Our guys did a good job getting a lead there early and really having good at-bats. Just frustrating not to be able to hold it.”
The Red Sox seized control in the second inning, scoring three runs off Kershaw. Trevor Story drew a leadoff walk, followed by a double from Carlos Narváez off the Green Monster. A line drive from Jarren Duran, which eluded the glove of Andy Pages in center field, plated two runs, and Duran later scored on a sacrifice fly. All three runs were driven in with two strikes against the Dodgers’ pitching.
Kershaw attempted to regain his composure, working around trouble in the third inning with a double-play grounder and a strikeout. He retired seven consecutive batters, finding a rhythm reminiscent of his strong 18th season. However, his momentum was halted in the fifth inning when Alex Bregman battled through a 10-pitch at-bat for a single, and Roman Anthony followed with a double off the Monster, extending the Red Sox lead. Kershaw’s night ended after 4⅔ innings, having allowed four runs – tying the second-most earned runs he’s surrendered this season – and recording only two strikeouts, raising his season ERA to 3.62.
“Could have been a super frustrating day,” Kershaw said. “Now it’s only mildly frustrating — just that that’s still in there, I can still get people out. It’s just that second inning got to me.”
Crochet, meanwhile, remained unfazed by the Dodgers’ early offensive burst. “When you’re facing guys like Crochet, you don’t get so many good pitches to hit,” Hernández observed. “The ones that you do, you just have to put it in play and hopefully you can get good contact, do some damage, like we did in the first inning. After that, he was throwing the ball very good. He didn’t miss many pitches in the strike zone.”
The Dodgers’ attempts to manufacture offense were consistently thwarted. After the first-inning home runs, a rally was extinguished when Freddie Freeman was thrown out attempting to advance from first to third on a single by Pages. The Dodgers challenged the call, but the out was upheld. Later, Hernández was caught stealing, and Will Smith was thrown out attempting to stretch a single into a double.
“If you try to play it straight and try to collect a bunch of hits, it’s just not going to happen,” Roberts explained, referencing the Dodgers’ aggressive approach on the bases. “We had a chance early and then he started bearing down and the velocity ticked up. Then hits were harder to come by.”
Even Shohei Ohtani, despite hitting his 38th home run of the season to extend his National League lead, struggled to capitalize on opportunities, striking out three times after his initial blast. In both the second and fourth innings, Hyeseong Kim managed to reach base, but Ohtani followed with inning-ending strikeouts.
The Dodgers had one final chance in the ninth inning against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman, bringing the tying run to the plate after a walk to Esteury Ruiz. The batter representing that tying run was Mookie Betts, who had returned to the ballpark after spending the week in Nashville following a family loss. However, Betts was called out on strikes, sealing the Dodgers’ fate.
The loss sets up a series rubber match on Sunday, leaving the Dodgers searching for answers against a Red Sox team that proved resilient and opportunistic.
