Ceddanne Rafaela homers twice, Red Sox score late to beat Dodgers again

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Aug 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers won’t be sad to see Ceddanne Rafaela go when this weekend’s series is over.

A day after hitting the go-ahead home run in Friday’s win, Rafaela went deep again in each of his first two at bats on Saturday, powering the Boston Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the two-time defending World Series champions.

Andruw Monasterio scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on a Connor Wong double play, and rookie starter Payton Tolle went toe-to-toe with Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto and kept his team in the game.

Though not the flashiest win of the season, Saturday may have been among the Red Sox’s best.

Rafaela took Yamamoto to the left-field bleachers his first time up, putting the Red Sox ahead 1-0, and after the Dodgers answered with a two-run homer by Teoscar Hernandez in the bottom of the second, Rafaela answered with another solo shot to almost the exact same spot as his first to tie the game in the top of the third.

It was the second multihomer game of Rafaela’s career and the two bombs brought him to 14 home runs on the season.

Though Rafaela has only ever played five games at Dodger Stadium, he’s done more damage in Chavez Ravine than just about anyone. With Saturday’s performance he is now 10 for 20 (.500) with three home runs, five RBI and three stolen bases.

The second home run wouldn’t have tied the game if not for a gusty second inning by Tolle, and also a bit of good fortune.

After Hernandez put the Dodgers up 2-1 in the second, Los Angeles put more traffic on the bases with a Max Muncy single and Miguel Rojas double to put two men in scoring position. Tolle drew a flyout for the second out and intentionally walked four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani to load the bases, but Andy Pages appeared for a moment to have what would have been at minimum a two-run double.

But the ball landed inches foul, and instead Tolle was able to draw an inning-ending groundout to second.

The Dodgers continued pressuring Tolle all outing but the Red Sox rookie held his own. Despite giving up nine hits and an intentional walk, the left-hander limited Los Angeles to two runs over six innings, both runs coming on Hernandez’s home run.

He was also helped by a pair of outfield assists by Wilyer Abreu, who threw out Ohtani at second trying to tag up and advance on a hard line drive for a double play in the first and later nailed Andy Pages trying to stretch a single into a double in the fifth.

Outside of Rafaela’s home runs, the Red Sox couldn’t touch Yamamoto for most of the night.

The two-time World Series champion was brilliant in his first career outing against the Red Sox, holding everyone other than Rafaela hitless over his first seven innings. Boston’s only other baserunner against Yamamoto came in the second on a Nick Sogard walk, and after Rafaela’s second homer Yamamoto retired the next 13 batters he faced.

Saturday was also the first time Yamamoto and Masataka Yoshida, his Team Japan teammate and previously NPB’s Orix Buffaloes as well, faced off in the majors. Yamamoto got the better of the Red Sox designated hitter in all three of his at bats, striking Yoshida out looking, forcing a flyout and drawing a groundout to first base.

The Red Sox finally broke through against Yamamoto in the eighth. With his pitch count at only 83 entering the inning, Yamamoto allowed a ground rule double to Monasterio to lead off the inning. Monasterio advanced to third on a bunt single by Jarren Duran, and while Wong grounded into a double play next at bat, that was still sufficient to bring Monasterio home.

Yamamoto took the loss despite allowing three runs over eight innings on four hits, a walk and three strikeouts.

Tyron Guerrero threw a scoreless eighth and Aroldis Chapman locked things down in the ninth for his 27th save of the season.

Boston (59-51) has now clinched its eighth consecutive series win dating back to the beginning of the club’s 15-game winning streak in early July, and the Red Sox have also won six of their last seven games to improve to a season-best eight games over .500.

Jake Bennett (6-4, 2.74) will look to help the Red Sox complete the series sweep on Sunday Night Baseball. He’ll face Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-7, 4.95) with first pitch scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET.

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