World Series Game 3 GameThread: Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Dodgers

With wins in each of the first two games of the 114th World Series, Alex Cora’s Boston Red Sox improved 9-2 so far in the 2018 postseason, setting themselves up well as the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers changes venues from Fenway Park to Dodger Stadium, where it resumes tonight with Game 3 at 8:09 PM EDT.

“I’ve been saying all along, we’re very talented,” Cora told reporters when he was asked about the results so far.

“They do a good job staying in the moment, showing up every day, that boring thing.

“Getting information, play, get the result, move on to the next day. They’ve been very consistent since Spring Training.

“We still feel that we can be better. There’s a few things that over the course of the playoffs we haven’t done well, but that’s a cool thing about it, we’re in a good position. We know we’re two wins away from winning the whole thing, but at the same time their approach is very humble. They want to keep improving. And that’s the cool thing about this group. They don’t get caught up in the whole thing, 108 wins, the Yankees, the Astros, it doesn’t matter.

“One thing I told them in Spring Training, do not let the successes around you dictate who you are, and they’ve been very consistent with that.”

Dodgers’ skipper Dave Robert talked about the position his team is in now, down 2-0 and facing the pressure of a 3-0 deficit if they drop tonight’s game.

“Understanding and appreciating that it’s the World Series, it’s still not a do or die like Game 7, it was a do-or-die situation,” Roberts explained.

“So I know that even just getting back home feels different. It’s going to be exciting tomorrow. It’s going to be energetic.

“So a little different but the key is we’ve still got to go out there and play a good baseball game.”

Roberts told reporters he thought it was a good situation for LA’s starter, Walker Buehler, who gave up nine earned runs in 12 innings in his first two postseason outings, but held Milwaukee to one run on six hits in 4 ²⁄₃ IP when he started in Game 7 of the NLCS.

“In a situation where you take a young player in an elimination game,” Roberts said, “where he’s had certain obstacles or challenges or big games that he’s pitched this year and different markers and he’s responded, but up until this point that was the biggest one. To be in a hostile, really boisterous crowd in Milwaukee and for him to keep his composure and to execute pitches speaks a lot to him, not only to compete but to eliminate kind of the outside noise and still stay within a game plan.

“So it just shows a lot of moxie.”

Rick Porcello starts for the Sox with a chance to help give his team a commanding lead in the Series.

“He’s rested, which is good,” Cora said of his starter.

“We used him a lot in the first two rounds being the rover, and then starting. I don’t think his stuff was as crisp as early in the playoffs. So now with the rest I think he’ll be fine. I know it’s a different lineup with them, all the lefties are going to play. But I do feel with his stuff we can match up with them, and he can give us a quality start.”

Will the Dodgers get back in the Series, or will the Red Sox go up 3-0 tonight?

HERE ARE THE DODGERS AND RED SOX’ LINEUPS FOR GAME 3: