Baseball: Boston Red Sox win World Series 4-1 against Los Angeles Dodgers

  • 29/10/2018

Steve Pearce slammed a pair of home runs and David Price tossed a seven-inning gem to power the Boston Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fourth World Series title in 15 years on Monday (NZ time).

The Red Sox, after winning a franchise record and Major League Baseball best 108 games during the regular season, carried their domination all the way to the World Series and overwhelmed the Dodgers 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Red Sox clinched their ninth World Series title with a lethal combination of power and pitching.

Game Five starter Price surrendered one run on three hits in seven plus innings to collect his third straight post-season win, while all the Red Sox runs were scored via home runs.

Pearce gave Boston a 2-0 lead they would never relinquish with a two-run blast in the first and added a solo shot in the eighth. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez hit solo home runs.

A tormented franchise during decades of frustration and despair before ending an 86-year championship drought in 2004, the Red Sox have become baseball's team of the century.

"It's very special. Seeing all these grown men over there, just acting like kids, that's what it's all about," Price said.

"This is why I came to Boston. "I knew it was a tough place to play. I knew it was challenging with everything that goes on there. I've been through a lot in three years since I came here, but this is why I came."

Red Sox first baseman Pearce, who hit a two-run homer on Clayton Kershaw's sixth pitch, was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series.

"We are a bunch of grinders," Pearce said, "and this is exactly where we knew we were going to be."

Pearce, a June acquisition from Toronto, had three homers and seven RBIs in the final two games of the Series.

Los Angeles are still looking for their first championship since 1988.

"I can't say enough about what Clayton - what our guys did," manager Dave Roberts said. "Unfortunately we came up short again this year."

Reuters