Quiet as a library for seven innings Friday night, Dodger Stadium erupted in a thunderous wave of applause in the eighth inning when Freddie Freeman lined a grand slam into the right-field bullpen, turning what looked like a desultory loss into a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox in front of a crowd of 51,562.
With the Dodgers trailing 1-0, Miguel Vargas drew a walk against reliever Zack Kelly to open the bottom of the eighth and took third when Shohei Ohtani, who looked overmatched while striking out in his first three at-bats against Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta, sliced a one-out ground-rule double down the left-field line off left-hander Brennan Bernardino.
Will Smith was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Freeman hooked a down-and-in curveball just over the bullpen gate for his seventh career grand slam and a 4-1 lead, as chants of “Freddie! Freddie!” filled Chavez Ravine.
Daniel Hudson gave up a single in a scoreless ninth to earn the save, as the Dodgers won for only the second time in the last eight games and maintained their seven-game lead over Arizona in the National League West.
Pivetta gave up only two hits in six shutout innings in which he struck out eight, walked one and was in line for the win before the Dodgers rallied in the eighth.
Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone rebounded from two straight rocky starts in which he gave up eight earned runs and 16 hits in 7⅔ innings against Arizona and Philadelphia by giving up only one run and six hits in five innings, striking out three and walking none, against the Red Sox.
His only blemish was a changeup that caught too much of the plate to Jarren Duran, the All-Star Game most valuable player who crushed a solo home run to center field for a 1-0 Boston lead in the fifth.
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Stone’s outing halted a brutal stretch in which Dodgers starters gave up 56 earned runs and 84 hits, including 17 homers, in 61⅓ innings in 15 games before the All-Star break for an 8.22 ERA.
The Dodgers currently have seven starting pitchers, including Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler, on the injured list, and they certainly could not afford to have Stone, their second-best starter this season, join them.
But the rookie right-hander gave his team a scare in the fourth inning when a 113.6-mph shot off the bat of Rafael Devers caromed off the inside of his left foot for a single, the ball appearing to hit the mound just before Stone’s right calf, reducing some of the impact.
Stone wasn’t fazed, telling the team’s athletic trainer to stay in the dugout, but Devers’ hit put the pitcher in a two-on, no-out jam.
Stone, who pitched around Duran’s leadoff double in the first inning, didn’t flinch. He got Masataka Yoshida to fly out to deep center field, Tyler O’Neill advancing to third, before striking out Wilyer Abreu swinging at a 95-mph fastball and getting Dominic Smith to ground out to shortstop, preserving a scoreless tie.
Stone gave up a leadoff single to O’Neill in the sixth and was pulled in favor of left-hander Anthony Banda, who struck out Devers and Yoshida, and got Abreu to pop out to shortstop.
Boston threatened in the seventh when Smith led off with a deep fly ball to the gap in left-center that left fielder Vargas dropped when he cut in front of center fielder Andy Pages, who was calling for the ball, a play that was generously ruled a double.
But Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia stiffened, striking out Ceddanne Rafaela with an 85-mph changeup, pinch-hitter Connor Wong with a 93-mph fastball and Duran with a 93-mph fastball to complete a 30-pitch inning.
Vargas atoned for his miscue in the eighth inning when he raced in to catch a Devers fly ball to shallow left and fired a throw to Freeman at first base to double off O’Neill, who did not go full speed back into the bag.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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