Three pitches into Sunday’s series finale between the Red Sox and Dodgers in Los Angeles, James Paxton was already down two runs.

Romy Gonzalez had knocked a first-pitch double, and Jarren Duran homered on the second pitch he saw to give Boston an immediate advantage.

But anyone who thought a 2-0 Red Sox lead would hold clearly hadn’t been watching when Freddie Freeman demolished Boston’s 1-0 lead with a game-deciding grand slam in the eighth on Friday, or Will Smith’s 11th-inning walk-off on Saturday. The Dodgers answered immediately, hit Kutter Crawford harder than he’d ever been hit before, and won 9-6 to sweep the Sox out of town.

Whereas the first two losses were a combination of failing to capitalize on ample opportunities and late-game bullpen implosions, the story of Sunday was the Sox starter. Crawford entered the game with a career-best streak of 15 scoreless innings, then gave up a new career-high five home runs (previous high: three). He’s the sixth pitcher in franchise history to allow that many in an outing, the first since Nathan Eovaldi one unfortunate day in 2022.

The Red Sox right-hander’s evening was off to a promising start, getting leadoff man Shohei Ohtani to strike out swinging on three consecutive pitches, and Teoscar Hernández to ground out.

It was all downhill from there. Freddie Freeman’s two-out solo homer got the Dodgers on the board, and back-to-back doubles by Andy Pages and Gavin Lux made it a tie game before Crawford was able to escape the first.

Each of the five homers the Dodgers hit off Crawford was a solo shot. Teoscar Hernández in the third, Lux in the fourth, and Austin Barnes and Ohtani in the fifth. Ohtani blasted his 473 feet out. The Dodger Blue version of Ted Williams’ red seat.

“For a lefty to go out there, that was, I’m speechless,” longtime Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw told the broadcast when he put on the headset for an inning. “I think it went in between the stands and the roof… Good gracious, I’ve never seen a ball go that far.”

Crawford’s night was over after five innings. He allowed six earned runs on seven hits, including the five homers, struck out two, and didn’t issue a walk. He threw 76 pitches, 43 for strikes before Bailey Horn, Chase Anderson, and Kenley Jansen took over.

Meanwhile, Paxton returned to the mound a man transformed. After giving up a leadoff single to David Hamilton – who promptly stole second, and then third – the veteran southpaw retired 11 of the next 12 batters, Rafael Devers reaching on an error by Kiké Hernández being the exception. What’s more, as “Big Maple” pitched deeper into the game, he began throwing harder.

“His velo’s getting so much better,” an impressed Kershaw told the ESPN booth as he watched from the dugout. “It’s like he’s getting stronger.”

Paxton, who pitched for the Red Sox last season, ended up pitching to two batters into the sixth, but didn’t record an out. He was charged with three earned runs on four hits, four walks, and seven strikeouts.

Overall, Boston collected nine hits, Los Angeles 10. The most consistent thing about the Red Sox throughout the series was how they found ways to waste opportunities. They were a combined 5-for-39 with runners in scoring position and left 25 men on base, sweeping themselves as much as the Dodgers swept them.

Until the sixth inning on Sunday, Duran and O’Neill had driven all of Boston’s runs in the series. Ceddanne Rafaela changed that in the top of the sixth, singling on the first pitch he saw from Joe Kelly to plate their first run since the first inning.

The game was still somewhat within reach at 6-3 when Jansen took the mound for the bottom of the eighth. For the first time since August 29, 2021, the veteran closer was in a game with his team trailing when he’d already pitched the day before.

He was in the game because he won’t be with the team on the next leg of their trip. Denver’s altitude is a high-risk environment for Jansen’s atrial fibrillation, so the Red Sox roster will be a reliever short against the Rockies. Knowing the bullpen – already missing Chris Martin and Justin Slaten – would be overworked in his absence, Jansen wanted to pitch on Sunday.

“We knew this in spring training, we talked about it before the series,” Alex Cora told reporters. “Before the game, he was like, ‘I’m pitching regardless if we’re up or we’re down, my job is to help the bullpen and save the bullpen.’”

Unfortunately, like Crawford in the first inning, Jansen got two quick outs, then got hit hard. Lux singled and stole second, then came around to score on Cavan Biggio’s single to center. Biggio advanced on a balk, then rounded the bases on Jason Heyward’s home run. Just like that, Los Angeles had doubled their lead.

Had Jansen pitched a clean eighth, the top of the ninth might have been a stunning upset. Facing Evan Phillips, Rafaela led off with a single and Dom Smith followed with a ground-rule double, putting two in scoring position for Boston’s most consistent bat. And once again, Duran answered the call; the leadoff man’s 30th double of the season brought both men around to score. Smith got O’Neill swinging for the first out, then issued back-to-back walks to Rafael Devers and Connor Wong to load the bases.

With Masataka Yoshida representing the tying run, Dave Roberts brought in Daniel Hudson. The veteran righty should’ve had a game-ending double play, but Yoshida hustled down the line and Kiké Hernández didn’t make the throw in time, so the Dodgers had to settle for a force-out. Duran scored, and the game continued.

But the rally attempt was too late and too little. With two outs and runners on the corners, Hudson got Wilyer Abreu to fly out on a slider below the zone.

A week ago, the Red Sox went into the All-Star break on top of the world. Aside from Duran – who had multiple hits in each game, homered twice, and drove in seven runs in the series – they’ve emerged struggling at the worst possible time. With the July 30 trade deadline just over a week away, they’ve lost three in a row for the first time since mid-May and been swept in a series longer than two games for the first time since their home-opener series against the Orioles in early April.

And they’ve fallen out of the third American League Wild Card spot.

No Colorado Rockies for Jansen

Kenley Jansen won’t be with the Red Sox on the second and final leg of this road trip. Denver’s high altitude has triggered his atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat condition – several times in the past, and his doctors have told him being there puts him at high risk of further incidents.

On Sunday night, the veteran told reporters he had to have his heart shocked after pitching there with the Dodgers in 2012, 2018, and with the Atlanta Braves in 2022. Following the ’12 and ’18 seasons, he underwent catheter ablation surgeries to improve the condition. The ’22 incident landed him on the injured list. He hasn’t been back to Denver since, and with the Red Sox trying to play baseball in October, it’s not worth the risk.

“We’re trying to get to the postseason,” Jansen told reporters. “I don’t think that’s a great time, to go there and mess things up. The next thing you know, it’s going to hurt the team more. I’d rather skip that one and be ready for the Yankees series.”