Familiarity Helps Red Sox Retire Mookie Betts In Loud Final Out

BOSTON — The ending to Saturday afternoon’s matchup between the Red Sox and Dodgers felt like it was written in Hollywood.

In a contest filled with momentum shifts, Boston entered the ninth inning up by three runs with a chance to even the series. John Schreiber was on the mound for the Red Sox and retired two men, but loaded the bases to bring the possible game-winning run up to the plate.

Mookie Betts.

The former Red Sox outfielder strolled up to the plate at Fenway Park, holding the emotions of 35,000-plus in the palm of his hand. He even got a pitch to hit, drilling a ball to straightaway center field — but into the glove of Adam Duvall. It was a gigantic moment for Boston, which may have had a leg up due to its familiarity with the 2018 World Series champ.

“I knew it was — he hit it really hard.”

Red Sox pitcher John Schreiber on Saturday’s final out

“We slowed him down, which is the most important thing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said postgame. “… I don’t know where the pitch was, but we’ll take our chances to right field, right-center field with him. We know that his power is to the pull side, we saw it for a few years here so we tried to stay away from his power zone. I haven’t seen the replay, but it worked out.”

The ball ended up traveling all the way to the warning track, coming off of Betts’ bat at 101.4 mph.

“I knew it was — he hit it really hard,” Schreiber said postgame. “I didn’t think he hit it out … it wasn’t an easy play but we got it done.”

The (very loud) final out was enough to let the Red Sox climb back into the series, evening things up with the Dodgers entering Sunday’s matchup. It didn’t look like that would be the case for most people in the ballpark. In fact, there may have been just one man who knew the game would end on that pitch.

“He hit it well. I had a beat on it,” Duvall said.