Three straight homers to start the third
August 2, 2026 – Los Angeles – Emmet Sheehan was already in trouble after a 30-pitch first inning. The third made it worse.
Ceddanne Rafaela went deep. Wilyer Abreu went deep on the next pitch. Two batters later, Masataka Yoshida went deep too. Three solo shots. A 5-3 lead. The Boston Red Sox never gave it back, beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4, and swept the series.
Boston has won five straight and is 23-3 since July 3. The Dodgers had just acquired Tarik Skubal. They still dropped three at home.
Rafaela owns the series
Rafaela went 7-for-14 with four homers and five RBI in the three games. He has an eight-game hitting streak and four straight multi-hit nights. Sunday was his third straight game with a homer.
Jake Bennett allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings and improved to 7-4. Jarren Duran added Boston's fourth solo homer in the sixth. Two more runs scored in the eighth on a wild pitch and a passed ball. Ugly runs still count.
Andy Pages drove in three for Los Angeles. It was not enough. Catcher Dalton Rushing was scratched with right arm irritation. Eliezer Alfonzo started behind the plate. The Dodgers never found a clean answer for Boston's power binge.
Sheehan was pulled after 2 2/3 innings and five runs. The first inning alone ate 30 pitches. When a starter is already underwater that early, three straight homers in the third are a finishing blow.
AthX Engine and a deadline-weekend series
AthX Engine scored Boston at 15 team fantasy points. Abreu and Yoshida each finished near the top of the daily hitting board. Those are night-by-night production numbers under AthX scoring.
The bigger baseball story is simpler. Boston is rolling. Los Angeles bought an ace and still got swept at home by a Red Sox club that will not stop homering.
What's next
Boston opens at home against the White Sox with Patrick Sandoval. Los Angeles visits the Cubs with Justin Wrobleski. Rafaela has turned a West Coast trip into a personal power stretch. The Dodgers have Skubal and a series loss to explain.
*Sources: MLB Gameday, ESPN recap, MLB schedule, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*
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