Garrett Crochet Is Key to Red Sox's Return to October Baseball
A team batting average of .254 isn't strong enough to carry the club to an American League East title, or even a Wild Card sweep. A healthy Crochet is what could carry the ballclub beyond their final three games of the regular season against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.
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Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Game 124: Marlins at Red Sox lineups and notes
Bello is 1-1 with a 1.32 ERA in five career starts against the Marlins. Related : Here's a preview: Lineups MARLINS (58-64): TBA Pitching: RHP Cal Quantrill (4-9, 5.09 ERA) Advertisement RED SOX (67-56): TBA Pitching: RHP Brayan Bello (8-6, 3.25 ERA) Time: 4:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Marlins vs. Bello: Xavier Edwards 0-3, Kyle Stowers 1-4 Red Sox vs. Quantrill: Wilyer Abreu 1-3, Alex Bregman 0-8, Jarren Duran 1-13, Romy González 1-5, Ceddanne Rafaela 1-2, Rob Refsnyder 0-2, Trevor Story 5-14, Ali Sánchez 0-2, Abraham Toro 0-6 Stat of the day: Five of Miami's nine hits on Friday were doubles. Notes: Miami has lost six of its last seven games and nine of its last 12 ... Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a third-inning double on Friday. Edwards, who scored Miami's only run in the loss, is 20-for-46 (.435) during the streak ... The Red Sox remained five games behind the first-place Blue Jays in the American League East. Toronto overcame a three-run deficit to defeat Texas 6-5 on Friday. ... Miami righthander Cal Quantrill is 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox. He has a 3.33 ERA over his past five starts, and allowed one run on three hits in four innings against the Braves during a no-decision on Sunday ... Red Sox starter Brayan Bello is 1-1 with a 1.32 ERA in five career starts against the Marlins. Advertisement Information from Stats Inc., and Field Level Media was used in this report. Matt Pepin can be reached at
New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Dodgers find the intensity they need, snap skid and even up NL West against Padres
LOS ANGELES — Call it a prediction, or willing it into existence, but Dave Roberts hoped this would bring out the best in the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have floundered through much of the last six weeks, squandering what was once a nine-game lead and lost ugly in the process. With the newly-minted first-place San Diego Padres in town to start a stretch six games head-to-head in the next 10 days, a breaking point was near. Advertisement 'We need to ramp up the intensity,' Roberts said as his team approached this vital weekend, stumbling after four straight losses. 'We do. Because if we don't, then I just don't think it'll bode well for us.' For at least one night, the Dodgers found it. They met the moment against a Padres team that had won 23 of their last 35 games, oozing talent and swagger in the process. In a 3-2 win, they managed to cling on to the type of game they've let slip too often. For at least one night, they are back tied for first place in the NL West. 'The division isn't won or lost in the next 10 days,' Clayton Kershaw said. 'But it will make an impact. We know that.' The stakes are obvious. For a night, so was the clear intent of a Dodgers team that has played in a fog for an extended stretch. 'I think that I could see it as far as on the field,' Roberts said. 'I could feel it. Our focus was keen.' That started, as always, with Kershaw. Every inning the Dodgers have gotten out of his surgically-repaired left arm has been a godsend. What was seen as a superfluous and sentimental signing has instead been vital. Friday, that meant righting the ship. 'We had the right guy on the mound tonight,' Roberts said. The left-hander allowed just three total baserunners over a total of six innings while relying on guile, timing and soft contact to navigate a lineup reinforced and reinvigorated by the active trade deadline the Dodgers didn't have. One of those deadline acquisitions, Ramón Laureano, brought in the only Padres run off Kershaw on the night when he hooked a curveball over the foul pole. Kershaw would walk the next hitter, Jose Iglesias, then wouldn't allow another baserunner until Freddy Fermín led off the sixth inning with a single. Kershaw rolled up a double play ball to get out of the threat, lowering his ERA to 3.01 in 77 2/3 innings this season. That, on its own, would be astounding. Given that Kershaw's stretch run will mean pitching in the thick of a pennant race, it's making all the difference. Advertisement 'It's a game in August, obviously,' Kershaw said. 'It's not that huge a deal. But the way we were going, it felt like a big game for us. Thankfully, we got a win.' That intensity continued with Teoscar Hernández, who has struggled for months to find the kind of magic that defined his April and his first year in Los Angeles. Injuries disrupted his timing at the plate. His defense has slipped, something this lineup can handle so long as his bat is productive. That hasn't been the case: in 262 plate appearances entering Friday since his return off the injured list with a strained group, Hernández has put up a .647 OPS. He still looms as someone dangerous with a bat in his hands. 'It's an easy bet that, when the stakes get higher, Teo's going to really show for us,' Roberts said. Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada has flourished by discovering the virtues of the elevated fastball, pairing elite velocity with elite characteristics that make it death on those who dare to swing at an elevated heater. But Hernández was ready for it, taking an elevated fastball for a strike before unleashing on the second one he saw. 'It's been a little bit of a struggle,' Hernández said. 'Not trying to think too much, just trying to put a good swing on a pitch that I can get in the strike zone.' He barreled up the 99.2 mph offering, driving it out to center field for a solo blast to extend the Dodgers' late lead. It was just the fourth time in Estrada's career that he'd allowed a home run on a fastball on the upper third of the plate – and on the hardest pitch of the four. 'That's one strong dude, man,' Padres manager Mike Shildt said. 'Especially that part of the ballpark. He seems to be able to do that against us.' Teoscar Hernández hammers an opposite-field blast to extend the @Dodgers lead 🔥 — MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2025 Getting through the night meant finding a way to navigate a shorthanded bullpen's trap doors. Four of the Dodgers' last five losses had seen the team tied or leading in the eighth inning, only to collapse. Four of their most important relievers right now reside on the injured list. Roberts' walk to make a pitching change might as well feature one of his hands tied behind his back. Advertisement It took five pitchers to record the game's final nine outs once Kershaw exited. Rookie Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless inning. Alex Vesia loaded the bases on a pair of wild pitches in a walk but exited with the lead still intact. With Manny Machado looming with two on and two out in the eighth, Roberts deployed his best remaining option in Blake Treinen. The fireman has struggled since missing nearly three months with an elbow injury. Machado still popped up a first-pitch sweeper to get out of it. Unwilling to ask Treinen to keep going, that meant trusting Alexis Díaz with the ninth. Whatever shine there was on the Díaz experiment has largely dulled in recent outings. The gains in stuff have been marred by inconsistent command, largely relegating Díaz to lower leverage until the moment forced the former Reds All-Star closer into a one-run game in a pennant race. Díaz struck out two of the three batters he faced, leaving a baserunner for rookie Jack Dreyer to get the final out. Ryan O'Hearn lofted Dreyer's third slider of the at-bat into the air for the left-hander to record his second career save. They'd survived the type of game they'd spent the last week blowing. They'd put together the type of clean baseball that they've been searching to consistently find for a month and a half. 'We're due?' Kershaw quipped. 'I think that's just the way it goes sometimes. Baseball is hard. When you play everyday, things can spiral pretty quick. So maybe just coming home, having an off day to reset, and playing good games. It just takes one to get going. Hopefully this was it tonight for us. 'You don't want to put too much merit in us losing a bunch of games. I don't think that's who we are. So I don't want to say that, you know, hey, we're reset now. I think we were fine. I think we just played some bad games. And I think we're fine moving forward.' It could be fleeting. But at least one night, the Dodgers looked like the team that met the moment. (Photo of Clayton Kershaw: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Plaschke: The 'legend' Clayton Kershaw is legendary again for Dodgers
Even now, Clayton Kershaw. After all these years, Clayton Kershaw. When the Dodgers are reeling and roiling and losing their grip on a long hot summer, who is the one player who can stop the fall and calm the nerves and, oh yeah, kick some San Diego Padre butt? Still, still, still, Clayton Kershaw. He's 37 with a battered 18-season body and a fastball the speed of a Zamboni and yet there he was Friday night, carrying an entire worried Dodger nation on his weary shoulders into the opener of a three-game series against the cocky rivals who had just stolen first place. Final score: Dodgers 3, Padres 2 Final line: Six innings, two hits, one run. Final verdict: He's still All That. 'We had the right guy on the mound tonight, I think we all know that,' said manager Dave Roberts, smiling for what seemed like the first time in a week. 'What he did for us tonight, not only just the compete, but the stuff ... getting us through six innings was huge, setting us up for the rest of the series ... Clayton set the tone ... big, big outing by him.' Read more: Dodgers slay their recent demons by beating Padres to regain tie for first in NL West It was a blast from the past, only it's been happening in the present, Kershaw behaving like the staff's second-best starter, improving his record to 7-2 while lowering his ERA to 3.01 and, as crazy as this once sounded, making an early case for inclusion in the postseason rotation. 'It was a good night,' Kershaw said. Understated as usual. For all this game meant, it was a great night. Since July 4 the Dodgers had been worse than even the Colorado Rockies, with a 12-21 record while losing 10 games in the standings to the Padres in a span of 40 days, surrendering first place just two days ago, and set to play the Padres six times in the next two weeks. They desperately needed somebody to stop the bleeding. And before the game, Roberts claimed that Kershaw was 'the perfect guy' to do it. Perfect prediction. Almost perfect performance. Read more: 'Super grateful' Clayton Kershaw, Dodger teammates bask in glow of 3,000th strikeout There was Kershaw, spinning and steering and surfing the ball past the Padre bats with apparent ease, his only mistake a hanging curve that Ramón Laureano hit 400 feet. There was Kershaw, deftly making plays from the mound, demonstrably pleading for every close strike call, proudly stalking from the mound into a dugout filled with hugs and high-fives. And there was Kershaw, after his maligned bullpen danced through danger and barely survived, admitting that maybe this game meant a little more. 'When you play everyday, things can spiral pretty quick,' he said. 'So maybe just coming home, having an off day to reset, and playing good games ... it just takes one to get going. Hopefully this was it tonight for us.' Before the game, Roberts acknowledged that the Dodgers just play harder, and with more urgency, when Kershaw is pitching. 'He had a way of elevating people's focus and play,' Roberts said. Sure enough, a team that had seemingly forgotten to do the little things did every little thing, from great defensive plays at the corners from Alex Freeland and Freddie Freeman to the eighth-inning sweeper from Blake Treinen that fooled Manny Machado into stranding two runners with a popout. This is a team that devoutly follows Kershaw ... when they're not sitting back and admiring him. 'He's built for these big moments,' said Teoscar Hernández, whose seventh inning homer eventually proved to be the difference. 'He is a legend.' Kershaw was at his best when the Dodgers' best was needed, and in doing so he brought sanity back to the National League West and old-fashioned hardball back to a series that had become cheap and unseemly. In these two teams' seven previous meetings this season, the Padres Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit three times, Shohei Ohtani was hit twice, and Roberts and Padres manager Mike Shildt engaged in a brief shoving and shouting match. The stage was set for more bad blood, but Kershaw, who entered with a career 23-11 record and 2.19 ERA against the Padres, quickly put an end to that. He retired the Padres on a three-up-three-down first inning and efficiently dominated them from there. 'It's a game in August, obviously, it's not that huge a deal,' Kershaw said. 'But the way we were going, it felt like a big game for us and, thankful that we got a win.' The only possible controversy emerged when Kershaw was removed from the game after just 76 pitches, surprising fans who didn't have time to give him the proper standing ovation while leaving the game in the shaky hands of the bullpen. Get used to it. The Dodgers are smartly going to protect the midseason Kershaw in hopes of maximizing the October Kershaw. 'I just think we've got to take care of him,' Roberts said. 'For Clayton to give us six strong innings of one-run baseball, he did his job, there was no reason to push him more.' Before the game, Roberts was asked if his struggling team held a players-only meeting. He said that, no, the transparent results of the next week would be the equivalent of any meeting. 'I don't like to be embarrassed, I don't think our players do, so this series I'm expecting high intensity and high performance,' Roberts said. 'I think in itself, the schedule over the next week, will suffice in lieu of a meeting.' In an opener that pulled the two teams into a first-place tie, the early results were clear. High intensity? Check. High performance? Check. Clayton Kershaw? Still. Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
