Ceddanne Rafaela stays red-hot, Red Sox hit four homers to sweep Dodgers

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Aug 2, 2026

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers supposedly can’t be beat. The two-time defending World Series champions boast arguably the most talented roster ever assembled and further established their position as championship favorites over the weekend by trading for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.

Just don’t tell that to the Boston Red Sox, who spent the whole weekend showing the Dodgers are still mortal.

Over a magical month that saw the Red Sox rip off a 15-game winning streak and now eight consecutive series victories, Boston finished off perhaps its most impressive feat yet, beating the Dodgers, 8-4, on Sunday to complete a dominant three-game sweep.

Four Red Sox players homered to power the win, including three times in the third inning to take the lead, and Ceddanne Rafaela continued his recent surge by going deep for the fourth time in three games.

Rookie starting pitcher Jake Bennett did his part by tossing another gem, and now the Red Sox will return home after polishing off a 6-1 west coast road trip.

Once again the Red Sox started off on the right foot.

For the third consecutive game the Red Sox scored first, taking a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Seven batters came to the plate against Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, and Masataka Yoshida and Caleb Durbin had back-to-back RBI singles to break the ice.

The Dodgers didn’t stay down for long, coming right back to score three runs in the bottom of the second to pull ahead, 3-2. Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy hit consecutive singles to load the bases, and while Muncy’s bomb of a line drive off the right-field wall somehow didn’t score Tucker, all three runners eventually came in to score anyway on an RBI groundout by Eliezer Alfonso and a two-run single by Andy Pages.

As they’ve seemingly done every night throughout this road trip, the Red Sox had an immediate response.

Rafaela led off the top of the third with a solo home run to tie the game. The All-Star center fielder homered in all three games of the series and four times total, but Rafaela hardly had time to celebrate before Wilyer Abreu made it back-to-back with a homer on the very next pitch.

Two batters later, Yoshida got in on the fun, hitting the third home run of the inning off Sheehan to make it 5-3 Red Sox.

Sheehan was pulled shortly afterward when he hit Andruw Monasterio with a pitch, wrapping up a rough outing in which he allowed five runs over 2 2/3 innings on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Sheehan only threw 58 pitches and walked off the mound to boos from the Dodger Stadium crowd.

Bennett, by comparison, was much better.

Like Payton Tolle on Saturday, Bennett found himself faced with a make-or-break moment in the second inning and passed the test. Though he loaded the bases and allowed three runs to score, he kept things from getting out of hand and made sure the Red Sox only faced a one-run deficit.

He settled down nicely afterward, retiring 10 straight Dodger batters after Pages’ two-run knock and finished with three runs allowed over 5 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits, intentionally walked one and struck out four to record the win.

Jarren Duran hit Boston’s fourth home run of the game in the sixth to stretch the lead to three. The Dodgers cut into the deficit on an RBI double by Pages with two outs in the seventh, but the Red Sox answered in the eighth when Durbin and was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a Monasterio single and a sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.

Monasterio scored in the eighth as well on a passed ball to wrap up the scoring for Boston, and Jovani Moran and Greg Weissert closed things out.

Besides winning six of seven out on the West Coast, the Red Sox have now won 15 of their last 16 games on the road dating back to the start of the club’s 15-game win streak in early July. The club is 28-5 overall since June 25, improving from 32-46 and 14 games under .500 to 60-51 and nine games over in a little more than a month.

The Red Sox now go into Monday’s off day two games back of the New York Yankees for the top spot in the American League wild-card race. By the time the club takes the field again on Tuesday the trade deadline will have passed, so when the players arrive at Fenway Park they’ll already know what reinforcements are on the way.

Skubal arrives

Newly acquired ace Tarik Skubal arrived at Dodger Stadium early in Sunday’s game and appeared on the big screen to loud cheers during the third inning. Skubal learned he’d been traded to Los Angeles by the Detroit Tigers late Saturday night in a package that sent Dodgers prospects Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith to the Tigers, and he is expected to make his Dodger debut on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

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