Friday, July 31, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

Shohei Ohtani returned from an off night and hit a two-run homer, but his heroics didn’t overcome the strong Boston Red Sox’s effort. On a hot Friday night at Dodger Stadium, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9–4. The Red Sox just finished the best month with 21 wins and 4 losses in their history.

The Dodgers went with a bullpen game even though Tanner Scott, Jack Dreyer, and Edwin Dìaz were unavailable. Brock Stewart, with a sore right shoulder that he had surgery on last October, was placed on the IL and is scheduled for an MRI on Saturday.

Ohtani, playing with a nagging sore left knee, had a double and a two-run blast. Freddie Freeman continued his hot hitting with three hits to contribute to the twenty hits in the last twenty games.

The Dodgers played sloppily. Cole Irwin, who took Stewart’s roster spot, pitched six innings and allowed six runs. He saved the rest of the bullpen for the next five games.

On Saturday, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, the Dodgers will try to cool down the hot Red Sox.