LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers sound like they will have no trouble finding the energy for Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday, while the Boston Red Sox were left formulating a plan for what comes next.
The Dodgers not only earned a dramatic 3-2 victory in 18 innings of Game 3 to get back into the series after two defeats at Boston, they talked about being in a good spot for Game 4 despite using their entire bench and every relief pitcher.
The Red Sox also used every bench player and every reliever, but also threw three starters into the mix, including their scheduled Game 4 starter Nathan Eovaldi. In fact, Eovaldi went six innings and 97 pitches before giving up a game-ending home run to Max Muncy.
The Red Sox hinted at a plan for Saturday’s starting pitcher, but they just weren’t willing to divulge it yet.
“We’ll sit down now and go over it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after a 7-hour, 20-minute Game 3. “Somebody will start, most likely a lefty.”
Drew Pomeranz, who did not pitch Friday, is one of four lefties on the Boston staff, along with Game 1 starter Chris Sale, Game 2 starter David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez, who pitched one-third of inning Friday.
Not only did Rick Porcello throw a solid 4 2/3 innings for Boston, Price also joined the fray Friday, working two-thirds of an inning.
The Dodgers seemed to have their starting pitcher situation settled, but around an hour after the final out of Game 3 they announced that their Game 4 starter as “TBA.” It could mean the club is thinking about a change from left-hander Rich Hill to left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who wobbled a bit in his Game 1 start.
Kershaw would be pitching Saturday on three days of rest if he sees action in Game 4. One possibility is that Kershaw and Hill piggyback each other Saturday to ease the burden on the bullpen.
But manager Dave Roberts sounded more than happy with the status of his bullpen. No Dodgers reliever went more than two innings, although Kenley Jansen, Pedro Baez and Kenta Maeda all were asked to get six outs.
“The way that our pen got the outs they needed, they did a heck of a job,” Roberts said. “You look at (Game 4) after playing 7 hours and 20 minutes, our pen is in pretty good shape. There were some guys we wanted to stay away from (in Game 3), namely (Ryan) Madson, Julio (Urias). But for those guys to give us some big outs and to pick us up when we needed it, it’s kind of a signature of our ballclub.”
What has not been a signature is the Dodgers’ struggle for offense. They got away with it in winning their first game of this World Series because of a brilliant seven-inning start from Walker Buehler and a stingy bullpen outside of Jackie Bradley Jr.’s home run off Jansen.
The Dodgers have averaged just three runs a game in the series and did not have an extra-base hit for 74 consecutive played appearances until Joc Pederson hit a third-inning home run Friday.
The Red Sox are in an uncharacteristic offensive slumber as well. The top four batters in the Boston lineup went a combined 0-for-28 in Game 3, including an 0-for-7 performance from likely AL-MVP Mookie Betts and an 0-for-8 game from Xander Bogaerts.
