Before the game, the National Anthem was performed by Ryan Tedder, the Grammy Award-winning record-producer and the front man of group OneRepublic.
Tedder has written or produced songs for artists like Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani and Demi Lovato.
...The huge and beautiful Dodger Stadium is...
...the site for Game 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series...
...In March last year, it was the site for the Final Round...
...of the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Also before the game, the Relievers of the Year Awards were handed out, which are named for Trevor Hoffman (National League) and Mariano Rivera (American League).
Hoffman handed out the National League Award to Josh Hader (Milwaukee Brewers), who had a 2.43 ERA, struckout 143 batters in 81 1/3 inning and earned 12 saves in the 55 games he pitched.
The last two years, Dodger-closer Kenley Jansen had won the Award.
Rivera handed out the Award to Edwin Díaz (Seattle Mariners), who earned 57 saves, had an 1.96 ERA and threw 124 strikeouts and only 17 walks in 73 1/3 inning in 73 relief appearances.
Boston-closer Craig Kimbrel won the Award last year.
Jansen and Kimbrel were both runner-up this time.
The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Dennis Eckersley, while facing Kirk Gibson as batter in a re-enactment of the famous homerun of 30 years ago.
Back then, in Game 1 of the World Series, while being injured, Gibson hit a walk-off, pinch-hit homerun off of Eckersley, who then was on the mound as closer for Oakland Athletics.
For Gibson, this was his lone appearance in the Series for the Dodgers, who won the Championship-title.
Kirk Gibson played only three seasons for the Dodgers (1988-1990), but became loved and popular there for his legendary homerun.
Gibson was more known as an outfielder for Detroit Tigers for whom he played in 1979-1987.
He also played for Kansas City Royals (1991) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1992), before closing his career with Detroit (1993-1995).
In 2010-2014, Gibson was the Manager of Arizona Diamondbacks.
He won the World Series with Detroit in 1984 and Los Angeles in 1988 and was the MVP In the National League in 1988.
Gibson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015, is currently a broadcaster for the Tigers.
Dennis Eckersley pitched for Cleveland Indians (1975-1977), Boston Red Sox (1978-1984), Chicago Cubs (1984-1986), Oakland Athletics (1987-1995), St. Louis Cardinals (1997-1997) and again Boston (1998).
He won the World Series in 1989, was the American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner in 1992, played in six All Star Games, threw a No-Hitter in 1977 and was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Currently, Eckersley is a commentator for Red Sox-games and is an analyst for Turner Sports.
Before the game, there also was a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the attack earlier in the day in a synagogue in Pittsburgh in which eleven persons were killed.
...Kenley Jansen - Blown Save...
...On the photo, he is with the Netherlands Team...
...during the Semi-Final of the World Baseball Classic...
...in March last year in Los Angeles...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the first five innings of the game, no runner would reach second base,
And so, it remained scoreless in what was a pitching-duel between Rich Hill (Los Angeles) and Eduardo Rodriguez (Boston), both lefthanders.
Hill gave up only one basehit and Rodriguez two in the first five innings.
After Boston was retired in order in the top of the sixth, Los Angeles opened the score in its sixth at bat.
Lead-off hitter David Freese was hit by a pitch (which is always costly).
With one out, his pinch-runner Kiké Hernandez moved to third base when Justin Turner doubled to become the first players to reach second base in this game.
While it appeared that Boston-Manager Alex Cora was to bring in a reliever, he stayed with Rodriguez.
With first base open, Manny Machado was walked intentionally and Rodriguez then got a grounder from Cody Bellinger to first base.
That resulted in a force out at the plate, but catcher Christian Vazquez then threw the ball on the back of Bellinger for an error, enabling Turner to score the first run.
With runners at the corners, next batter Yasiel Puig lined the ball into deep left-centerfield for a 3-run homerun!
On the moment, he made contact, Puig knew it was a homerun and he celebrated while running the bases.
With the Dodgers now leading 4-0, Matt Barnes took over the Boston-pitching.
He walked Chris Taylor, but then closed with a strikeout.
In the top of the seventh inning, Rich Hill began with a walk for Xander Bogaerts, but followed with a strikeout.
That marked the end for Hill, who had an outstanding evening on the mound and had given op only one basehit, but nevertheless, a reliever was brought in.
Scott Alexander took over, but he walked Brock Holt, making Bogaerts the first Boston-player to reach second base.
Another pitching change followed, as Ryan Madson was brought in.
With two outs, he gave up a 3-run homerun to pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland, that made it a 4-3 score!
...Xander Bogaerts - RBI-single...
...On the photo, he is with the Netherlands...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
...in Japan...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the eighth, Kenley Jansen became the new pitcher for the Dodgers.
With one out, the righthander gave up a homerun to Steve Pearce that tied the score.
For the second evening in a row, Jansen was credited with a Blown Save!
As in Game 3, Jansen entered the game in the eighth instead of the ninth, which he is used to do in save-situations.
In the bottom of the eighth, Manny Machado led off with a single, but (with one out), he was forced out on a grounder by Yasiel Puig.
The Cuban moved to third base on a single by Chris Taylor, but hereafter, pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal struckout.
In the top of the ninth, Dylan Floro took over the pitching from Jansen and ran into problems.
With one out, Floro gave up a double to Brock Holt, who then scored the go-ahead run on a single by pinch-hitter Rafael Devers.
He moved on a grounder by pinch-hitter Blake Swihart.
Floro then walked Mookie Betts intentionally and was replaced by Alex Wood.
He was greeted with an infield-hit from Andrew Benintendi on a close play at first base,
That loaded the bases and led to another pitching change, as Japanese righthander Kenta Maeda was brought in.
Maeda struckout five batters in a row in the marathon on Friday, but now, he was greeted with a baseclearing, 3-run double by Steve Pearce.
Hereafter, J.D. Martinez was walked intentionally, but Xander Bogaerts followed with a runscoring single to lift the lead to 9-4.
In the bottom of the ninth, Los Angeles was able to do something back, but ended up empty-handed.
Boston-closer Craig Kimbrel took over the pitching, but walked lead-off hitter Brian Dozier, then gave up a homerun to Kiké Hernandez!
With one out, Justin Turner singled to reach base for the fourth time.
Hereafter, Dominican third baseman Rafael Devers made a great defensive play on a hard grounder by Manny Machado.
That not only accounted for the second out, but might have saved the game for Boston.
The game then ended with a flyout from Cody Bellinger.
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Boston comes from behind to take 3-1 lead in World Series
LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
16 hours and 40 minutes after the historic Game 3 ended, the first pitch was thrown in Game 4 of the 114th World Series.
Game 3 ended at 00:30 AM on early Saturday-morning (October 27), Game 4 went underway at 5:10 PM the same day.
Boston had won the first two games at home on Tuesday and Wednesday.
