Stripling, up and down from the minors to the majors this season, threw five shutout innings as the Dodgers rebounded from a Friday drubbing to defeat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 before 47,696 at Dodger Stadium. Abad came on in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game and gave up a single and a walk but also got the first two outs before Boston closer Craig Kimbrel came on and got the Red Sox out of the jam.
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The Boston Red Sox slugger got a rare start at first base against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, and the home team wasted no time in testing him.
Sandy Leon celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run homer in the fourth inning. “I feel like I would have been in a good position if I was able to be effective with my pitches”, Kazmir said.
“I was just in awe”. I was erratic. When I tried to throw inside, it was way inside.
“I was just trying to go out there and establish your knuckleball for called strikes”, Wright said. Despite John Farrell and members of the training staff coming out midway through his at-bat against Dodgers southpaw starter Scott Kazmir, Pedroia hopped around and then grounded out to second.
The Dodgers have lost three of their last four games but still remain two games behind the Giants in the NL West.
Wright, who went to high school in Moreno Valley, held the Dodgers to three hits, struck out nine and walked one in a complete-game effort that led the Red Sox to a 9-0 victory.
Wright was greeted with a big bear hug from Ortiz after he put the finishing touches on his first career shutout.
“It’s definitely nice to do it at (home)”, said Wright, a native of nearby Torrance. The Dodgers will honor Ortiz, who is retiring at season’s end, before Friday’s game. To have an opportunity to pitch here was fun. This was a game that the team really needed to win, because it would have brought the Mariners within three games of the Red Sox. The 26-year-old righty has appeared in 12 games this season, starting the first eight, and is 2-3 with a 4.14 ERA and 1.288 WHIP.
“Immediately I knew I loved the guy because he put all the hitters into a room and he talked for a solid hour about hitting and how to approach things”, Reddick recalled. Succeeding in those three facets could just get this team back to the playoffs, but time is running out to make a real run at a Wild Card spot. “He’s going to give you one pitch and one pitch only, and that’s the pitch you’ve got to hit”.
The Dodgers did well in how they honored Ortiz on his farewell tour in a pregame ceremony. Asked if Hill would be healthy enough to start Sunday, Roberts said “as far as I’m concerned, yes”. “To highlight David the person, not so much the player”. To mark the occasion, the Dodgers gifted Ortiz with a $10,000 donation to his eponymous children’s charity Friday.
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There’s a backstory that helps explain the fish tossing, but the Flava Flav connection is a bit more confounding. Ortiz has started just 277 of his 2,356 games at first base, but was eager to take the field, Farrell said.
