Red Sox bid to carry July success into clash vs. Dodgers

The Boston Red Sox are bidding a fond farewell to the month of July.

The calendar turned to August on Saturday with the middle contest of a three-game road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Red Sox won again on Friday, taking down the Dodgers 9-4 in the series opener. Ceddanne Rafaela belted a go-ahead two-run homer in a five-run seventh inning as the visitors rallied for the victory.

Boston went 21-4 in July, an .840 win percentage that was best in franchise history for a month with a minimum 15 games.

"Obviously the month of July was incredible and necessary with where we were at," Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. "It was necessary that we played better and got on a run and we got on a heck of a run. We have to continue that now because we're playing very good baseball."

While the Red Sox struggled to score early runs while taking three of four against the Athletics to open the road trip, they took a 3-0 lead Friday. Boston flashed even more offense after Shohei Ohtani hit a home run to give the Dodgers the lead in the fifth inning.

Andruw Monasterio added a two-run double in the seventh and Jarren Duran had two RBIs on Friday, one day after causing a stir when he gestured toward third base after Willson Contreras did not tag up from third base on his fly ball.

Friday's game was not without its concerns after Contreras was hit in the helmet by a 95.4-mph pitch in the third inning and left the game. According to Tracy, initial concussion tests "went fine," with Contreras set to undergo more tests Saturday.

The Red Sox are set to send left-hander Payton Tolle (6-6, 3.32 ERA) to the mound Saturday. Boston has won each of Tolle's last four starts, as he went 2-0 with a 3.05 ERA during the stretch.

Tolle will be facing the Dodgers for the first time.

Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not appear in the All-Star Game in order to get some extra rest, and the decision seems to have worked wonders.

Yamamoto (11-6, 2.72) will pitch Saturday after he delivered a pair of wins immediately following the break.

In a July 19 road start against the New York Yankees, Yamamoto pitched the first regular-season complete game of his career, earning the win after allowing two runs on four hits. Almost one week later, he battled his command before giving up one run over six innings in a road win against the New York Mets.

After the 102-pitch complete game, battling to get on track again was far from a surprise.

"He wasn't as efficient as he has been," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "But he's just such a good competitor. ... I think that the tell was that he made pitches when he needed to. But the fastball command, the split, just wasn't where it has been in the last six weeks."

Yamamoto will be facing the Red Sox for the first time.

Ohtani's home run came after he sat out a game Thursday with soreness in his left knee. It is the same injury that has kept Ohtani out of the rotation since the break.

After winning six of eight games immediately after the break, the Dodgers have lost three of their last five.

--Field Level Media