![\"Masataka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/44TOFVUDJVCQVG2TP6LTV7RPZA.jpg\")
Masataka Yoshida (right) is congratulated by Caleb Durbin after his solo home run in the third inning Sunday.Luke Hales\/Getty<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re in a good spot right now, so we\u2019ll see what happens [Monday],\u201d said Wilyer Abreu, who hit a go-ahead home run in the third inning. \u201cBut I think whatever happens is going to be the best for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ceddanne Rafaela said: \u201cI don\u2019t hope for [anything]. I\u2019m just enjoying winning baseball and I\u2019m not really paying attention to that. I\u2019m really enjoying playing with my boys and whatever happens. If somebody comes, we will welcome them with open arms. But if not, we will keep winning baseball games with this team. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Masataka Yoshida (right) is congratulated by Caleb Durbin after his solo home run in the third inning Sunday.Luke Hales\/Getty<\/p>\n
The Red Sox are 60-51. They have won five games in a row, six of seven on this now-completed West Coast trip, 23 of 26, and, going back to June 19, 31 of 39.<\/p>\n
Because of that, they are sitting pretty in the second American League wild-card spot, having built a five-game cushion over the first team on the outside.<\/p>\n
In the AL East, they are hanging around, five games behind the first-place Rays.<\/p>\n
Along the way, with a sometimes piecemeal array of players amid injuries and turnover, they have formed an identity, developed chemistry, and learned how to come back \u2014 from deficits in games and in the standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversally, in a locker room in the big leagues, if you add something impactful [via trade at this time of year], that\u2019s usually going to be pretty well received by players because . . . that\u2019s going to help us,\u201d interim manager Chad Tracy said. \u201cBut you also are sensitive to, as a manager, how does that affect the rest of our roster? How does it fit? Who does it affect?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of our identity that doesn\u2019t go away with an addition of a player. So we\u2019ll figure it out as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ceddanne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/XGOXRKE72JC4PDAQHEBYBFYGD4.jpg\")
Ceddanne Rafaela could slot down after his solo home run cleared the wall in the third inning at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.Luke Hales\/Getty<\/p>\n
In the finale with the Dodgers (69-43), the Red Sox had an almost formulaic approach: a strong outing from Jake Bennett, who tossed 5 innings and allowed three runs; a bunch of sound defensive plays, including from shortstop Andruw Monasterio, second baseman Nick Sogard, and right fielder Abreu; and big hits in key moments.<\/p>\n
The biggest: three home runs in a span of seven pitches off righthander Emmet Sheehan, a Boston College alumnus.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles had just struck for three runs in the bottom of the second. In the top of the third, Rafaela, Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida each went deep.<\/p>\n
Rafaela\u2019s was the tying blast, and his fourth in the three-game series. Abreu\u2019s came on Sheehan\u2019s next pitch and produced a lead. Yoshida added another one out later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWillson [Contreras] said this a couple weeks ago, that we can beat anybody right now, and we showed that today and the whole series,\u201d Abreu said. \u201cWe showed what we need to show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheehan was tagged for five runs in 2 innings. He has a 5.29 ERA and is not guaranteed to keep his rotation spot as the Dodgers add multiple starters in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Bennett rebounded from his rocky second \u2014 highlighted by Andy Pages\u2019s two-out, two-run single after the Sox intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to load the bases \u2014 to retire 11 of 12 batters, into the sixth inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey swing, we swing back,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIt really fired me up, and I feel like it really allowed me to keep going out there, just giving it my all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Los Angeles let Wyatt Mills, a former Red Sox farmhand, wear it in the late innings. <\/p>\n
Without closer Aroldis Chapman \u2014 who had pitched three of the previous four days \u2014 the Sox added two critical runs in the eighth, one on a wild pitch by Mills and the other on a passed ball by catcher Eliezer Alfonzo.<\/p>\n
Jarren Duran homered in the sixth inning, his first long ball since July 5. He is batting .200, his first time finishing the day with an average that high since July 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a huge series for us,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThese guys are a really good ball club, and for us to come in and take care of business like we did is awesome. It really shows what kind of team we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @timbhealey<\/a>.<\/p>\n