Boston Red Sox’s Mike Napoli hits a two-run home run to drive in Dustin Pedroia against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning of their MLB game, in Los Angeles on Sunday. (Reuters)
Jake Peavy helped the team with the most series victories in the majors this season to take one from a club that hadn't lost one in two-and-a-half months. Peavy pitched a three-hitter as the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-1 on Sunday night.
The Red Sox, who won their 26th series, were the first team to capture one from the Dodgers since June 14-16, when Pittsburgh took two of three. But Los Angeles are 46-12 since June 22.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli homered for the Red Sox on the anniversary of the blockbuster nine-player trade in which the Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto from Boston. Gonzalez hit his 17th homer, driving an 0-2 pitch to center field with one out in the fourth for the Dodgers' first hit after the Red Sox staked Peavy to a 3-0 lead.
The victory enabled the Red Sox to regain sole position of first place in the AL East and put them a game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost 3-2 to the Yankees in 11 innings.
The Dodgers maintained their 9 1/2-game lead over Arizona in the NL West, following the Diamondbacks' 9-5 loss at Philadelphia.
Peavy (10-5) threw 111 pitches in his 300th big league start, going the distance for the 16th time while striking out five and walking one. The right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA in five starts since Boston acquired him in a trade from the Chicago White Sox.
Chris Capuano (4-7) gave up three runs and six hits through five innings in his first career appearance against Boston. The 35-year-old left-hander, who was born in Springfield, Mass., has gotten through the seventh inning in only one of his 18 starts this season.
Dustin Pedroia was credited with an infield hit in the first inning on a missed call by umpire Mark Carlson, who ruled him safe after shortstop Hanley Ramirez charged in on Pedroia's grounder and Gonzalez scooped up the low throw in time.
Victorino, who had doubled with one out before Pedroia came up, scored on Napoli's ground-rule double to centre.
But Capuano minimized the damage by getting Will Middlebrooks to ground into a double play, after loading the bases with a two-out intentional walk to Jonny Gomes.
Pedroia made it 2-0 in the third with a sacrifice fly. Xander Bogaerts, playing in his fourth major league game, got his first RBI with a fourth-inning double, and the Red Sox increased the margin to 6-1 with Saltalamacchia's two-run homer in the sixth and Victorino's solo shot in the seventh — both off rookie Chris Withrow.
Napoli capped the scoring in the ninth with his 16th home run, a two-run shot against Brandon League.
Elsewhere, Mike Minor pitched seven efficient innings and center fielder Jordan Schafer sparked the offense as the Braves avoided a four-game sweep by St Louis. Minor (13-5) scattered six hits, walked one and struck out two in beating St Louis for the second time in a month while Schafer led off with a triple in the first inning as Atlanta scored once before adding two runs in the second. St Louis’ Lance Lynn (13-8) failed in his fourth attempt for his 14th win.
In New York, Alfonso Soriano hit a one-out double, stole third and scored on Curtis Granderson’s sacrifice fly, leading the Yankees. The victory snapped New York’s two-game losing streak and pushed the Yankees’ record since Aug 4 to 11-4 as Tampa Bay fell one game behind Boston for first place in the American League East. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera worked a perfect bottom of the 11th to secure his 38th save of the season.
The Chicago White Sox won a second straight series against the Rangers and defeated them for the seventh time in the past eight meetings overall. John Danks threw a strong six innings and picked up the win for the Sox, who got solo homers from Josh Phegley and Jordan Danks. Despite the loss, the Rangers kept their 2 ½-game lead over Oakland in the American League West.
In Baltimore, JJ Hardy hit his 23rd homer and added a double and a single as the Orioles pounded out 13 hits to take the finale of a three-game series with Oakland.
The Orioles (70-59) took two-of-three to pull within two games of the A’s (72-57) in the race for the second AL wild-card spot.