LOS ANGELES -- To capture their fourth championship in the past 15 seasons, the Red Sox pounced on Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, scoring four runs on three homers off the former National League Cy Young Award winner in their 5-1 victory Sunday night in Game 5 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.
Steve Pearce, who tied Game 4 with a solo homer off closer Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning, launched a 405-foot, two-run homer off Kershaw in the first inning to give Boston the early lead.
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But Pearce wasn't done. After the Red Sox expanded the lead to 4-1 on home runs from Mookie Betts in the sixth and J.D. Martinez in the seventh, also off Kershaw, Pearce slugged another homer in the eighth, after Los Angeles called on reliever Pedro Baez.
To get Boston going in the first, Andrew Benintendi singled to center with one out, setting the stage for Pearce's third home run of the postseason. Pearce's first homer, hit off a 91.5-mph fastball, was the first first-inning home run Kershaw has allowed this year.