World Series Game 1: The pivot points as Boston takes the first game, 8-4
There were vital moments from Game One of the World Series when Boston gained the upper hand
From a strategic standpoint, Boston’s 8-4 victory over Los Angeles Tuesday in the first game of the
The matchup pitted a pair of All Stars routinely ranked among their league’s best – Boston’s Chris Sale and Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw – against one another. Yet neither could record so much as a single out after the fourth inning.
The Red Sox led almost all the way, and eventually won by four runs. Yet a case could easily be made that confused defensive play gave Boston three of those runs and that a debatable managerial decision led to three more runs coming home.
Certainly, the visitors appeared occasionally to suffer from a case of Fenway disorientation, as witnessed by damaging incidents in the first, fifth and seventh innings. At times, however, the Dodgers also did themselves in. That was especially so in the seventh, when the elements combined to deny Los Angeles possible tying or go-ahead runs, then give Boston three insurance runs.
Let’s walk back through Game One’s key decision points and assess the impact they had on the eventual 8-4 final score. We’ll find a more closely contested game than the scoreboard suggests, one that turned on a succession of small things. A little impatience at the wrong time, a smidgen of timidity around jutting walls, and a manager’s decision to remove a pitcher in the process of doing his job well; put them together and you have a 1-0 Red Sox advantage entering Game Two Wednesday night.
Pivot Point: Patience
The Dodgers’ plan for victory was predicated on patience, and more specifically on making Red Sox starter Chris Sale work. Whether this was a deliberate response to Sale’s recent hospitalization or a sense that the Sox bullpen could be attacked, Dodger hitters carried it out with commitment.
Of the first 18 Dodgers to bat, 14 took Sale’s first pitch, and 11 took his first two. Short-term, the strategy worked; not a single one of those patient Dodger hitters dug an 0-2 hole, and Sale’s pitch count went stratospheric, reaching into the 70s after just three innings.
That did lead to some damage. Matt Kemp homered in the second, then Justin Turner, David Freese and Manny Machado strung singles in the third. The latter netted one run, but failed to generate any more when Chris Taylor took a lovely little third strike over the heart of the plate and Matt Kemp went off the patience script, grounding easily to Sale on the first pitch.
Long-term, though, the plan failed to maximize offense. Counting the leadoff walk in the fifth who prompted Sale’s removal — the runner eventually scored — LA managed three runs against him. But getting Sale out of the game did not prove the boon the Dodgers appeared to hope; his six successors held them to just one run.
Pivot Point – Funky Fenway
The Dodgers sometimes played defense as if bewildered by Fenway’s strange nooks, crannies and angles. It could easily be argued that the National League champions’ unfamiliarity with the old park’s idiosyncracies cost Los Angeles three runs.
The mysteries began with the first batter when Betts lifted a simple pop up in foul territory behind first base. Freese wandered after it as if feeling his way through a dark alley, scoping out both the ball and nearby wall and finally overrunning the ball, which dropped foul several feet away. That gave Betts new life, and he seized it three pitches later with a line drive single. Andrew Benitendi singled him home. Had Freese caught the foul pop, Betts wouldn’t have been on base for Benintendi to drive in.
With two out and a runner on first in the third inning, J.D. Martinez belted a fly ball to deep center. Kike Hernandez initially chased after it, but – judging that the ball would hit too high off the wall to be played – he turned his back toward the field and positioned himself to play the rebound. It was a wrong judgment; the ball struck near the base of the wall, a spot where Hernandez could have made the inning-ending catch had he pursued it. Instead Steve Pearce scored Boston’s third run.
Finally in the seventh, Benitendi lofted a lazy pop near the foul line in short left where Fenway’s grandstands jut toward the field of play. Dodger left-fielder Joc Pederson groped uncertainly for it and let it fall, the ball kicking sideways into the seats for a ground rule double. Benitendi later scored on Eduardo Nunez’ home run.
Pivot point – Close call
Leading off Boston’s fifth, Betts chopped a strange three hopper down the third base line. Replays showed the ball started foul, insinuated itself fair about 60 feet down the line and then started to bounce foul again as it approached third. Justin Turner fielded the ball in foul territory behind the base and threw Betts out at first for what Turner thought was the inning’s first out.
But third base umpire Chad Fairchild ruled the ball had indeed been foul when it passed third base, nullifying the out and giving Betts another second-chance. Re-reprieved, Betts walked. He later scored Boston’s fourth run on Rafael Devers’ base hit.
Had Fairchild ruled the ball fair – replays showed only that it was a narrow call – Betts would not have reached base. More pertinently, Devers probably would not have come to bat to drive him and Benintendi — who singled — home because Dodger reliever Ryan Madson struck out Martinez and got Xander Bogaerts to bounce into what would have been an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
Instead, Bogaerts’ grounder only represented the second out, leaving Devers free to count both Betts and Benitendi with the runs that put Boston ahead to stay.
Pivot point – Bullpen roulette
When neither Sale nor Clayton Kershaw retire anybody in the fifth inning, you know we’ve entered a new era of pitcher usage. The two teams combined to use 10 relievers, and Boston decisively won that contest.
In fact the superior performance of the Red Sox pen is probably the single most important factor in their victory. Sox relievers allowed just one run, although they did permit one inherited runner to score. But Dodger relievers allowed three runs and permitted two inherited runners to score.
The inherited Red Sox runners have been accounted for in the section on Betts’ non-groundout and Devers’ hit. The post-exit mark on Sale’s record was registered when Turner singled off Matt Barnes, driving home Brian Dozier.
But the key bullpen decision came in the Red Sox seventh, and it gave those desiring to second-guess Dodger manager Dave Roberts a clear shot at him.
After Pederson allowed Benintendi’s pop to fall and bounce into the stands for two bases, Roberts lifted Julio Urias – who had pitched a scoreless sixth and whose only blemish was Pederson’s misplay – in favor of Pedro Baez. The move made sense; Baez had been superb in post-season play, and he was again Tuesday. He struck out Pearce and Bogaerts, in between those issuing the directed intentional walk to Martinez.
That brought up the left-handed hitting Devers to face the right-handed throwing Baez … or not. Roberts elected instead to bring in left-hander Alex Wood, prompting Red Sox manager Alex Cora to lift Devers in favor of right-handed pinch hitter Eduardo Escobar. Wood threw a breaking ball low and away, then threw a second not as far low and away. The pitch was outside the strike zone, but close enough to interest Nunez, who lined it over the Green Monster for a three-run homer that provided the decisive and final margin.
Pivot point – Losing patience
The Dodgers rarely veered from their patient approach at the plate, but when they did it bit them big-time. That was certainly the case in the top of the seventh.
LA trailed 5-3 at that point when with one out Max Muncy singled to right on a 3-2 pitch off Ryan Brasier, the third of the six Boston relievers. When Justin Turner followed with a single of his own to center and Yasmani Grandal worked a five-pitch walk, LA had the bases full with one out and their best hitters, Machado and Bellinger, due up.
If ever there was a time for Machado to zone in on an extremely hittable fastball, and see how far he could drive it, this was it. After all, Brasier had just allowed three straight baserunners, the last on four balls nowhere close to the strike zone. But the key phrase was “extremely hittable.” Otherwise, the situation called for patience.
Machado, however, was not feeling patient. Brasier threw him a waist-high first-pitch fastball off the plate, but instead of taking it Machado reached for it with his best cut. While he did manage to loft it deep enough to Bradley in center to allow Muncy to score, that only moved LA within a run.
Three pitches later, when Eduardo Rodriguez got Bellinger to lift another easy fly to Bradley, the threat was quelled. Might the outcome of that inning have been any different if Machado had gotten a good pitch to hit with the bases loaded? Who knows? Would a more patient at bat have changed the game’s outcome? The odds, obviously are against it.
Only one thing can be stated with certainty: The Dodgers never mounted another threat.
Next. World Series 102 years in the making. dark
The World Series resumes with Game 2 tonight in Boston as Hyun-Jin Ryu takes the mound for the Dodgers and David Price climbs the hill for the Red Sox.