Relentless Dodgers offense backs Gavin Stone to beat Red Sox, win another series

It took a few innings, but the Dodgers finally found a steady stream of offense, scoring in five consecutive innings to beat the Red Sox 7-4 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park in Boston.

The Dodgers won another series, their eighth in a row, and improved to 21-4 in August, without losing consecutive games all month.

Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have fueled the Dodgers offense all season, but especially so this week, with both scorching hot at the plate. That was also true on Sunday with a pair of three-hit games. Freeman hit two doubles to set a new Los Angeles Dodgers record with 50 doubles in a season. Betts hit a two-run home run onto Landsdowne Street behind the Green Monster and drove in another run in the eighth, continuing one of the best hot streaks in Dodgers history.

But the Dodgers got contributions from several others to take the series finale in Boston.

James Outman opened the scoring with a fourth-inning home run into the bullpen in right field. Outman now has 16 home run on the season, a total surpassed by only 12 Dodgers rookies. Of the seven eligible Dodgers rookies to hit at least 20 home runs, five won National League Rookie of the Year.

Outman also singled home a run in the seventh to widen the Dodgers’ lead after Boston got to within two runs.

Max Muncy singled home Freeman in the fourth inning, and also doubled earlier. The latter gave Muncy five straight games with an extra-base hit, tied for the second-longest streak of his career. Muncy’s two hits also brought his seasonal line to .200/.331/.475 with a 118 wRC+, and the first time his batting average has started with a two since July 24.

Miguel Rojas doubled twice and scored. Austin Barnes doubled and scored, extending his hit streak to five games.

That group helped the Dodgers offense break through after early frustration. On Saturday, the Dodgers’ comeback attempt was thwarted by leaving the bases loaded in each of the last two innings. They also left the bases loaded again in the first inning Sunday, and stranded doubles in both the second and third innings, too.

But then the Dodgers scored in every inning from the fourth through the eighth.

Caleb Ferguson has opened three times in the last nine days, with each outing more or less the same. He allowed two batters to reach base in all three first innings, then escaped without giving up a run. On Sunday, the traffic was a one-out walk to Justin Turner and a two-out double by Triston Casas. But with two runners in scoring position, Trevor Story popped out to catcher Barnes in foul territory.

Gavin Stone had by far his best major league outing to date. He took over in the second inning and didn’t allow a run until the sixth, and only when Casas’ fly ball landed over the Green Monster, with Fenway Park the only major league park out of 30 in which that ball with an expected batting average of .030 would be a home run.

After six strong innings, the Dodgers tried to another inning out of Stone in the eighth, but he was greeted with back-to-back home runs by Turner and Adam Duvall, pulling the Red Sox within three.

It was still an effective outing for Stone, even with allowing the four runs. He didn’t walk anyone and ate up six innings in the middle of a stretch of 13 game days in a row. While his outing didn’t end the way he might have wanted, he can console himself with his first major league win.

Sunday particulars

Home runs: James Outman (16), Mookie Betts (35); Triston Casas (21), Justin Turner (22), Adam Duvall (16)

WP — Gavin Stone (1-0): 6+ IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 2 strikeouts

LP — Tanner Houck (3-8): 4 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Sv — Evan Phillips (21): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Dodgers are back home for a series against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. On Monday night (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), Bobby Miller gets the start against Arizona ace Zac Gallen.