There were lessons to be learned for the Red Sox at Dodger Stadium

LOS ANGELES - The easy way to look at the Red Sox' 4-1 loss to the Dodgers Friday night was that this was a simple case of Los Angeles' star power stepping up at just the right time.

In this case, the shock and awe of baseball's highest-paid team didn't surface until the eighth inning. That's when Shohei Ohtani greeted Brennan Bernardino by placing a first-pitch, one-out double down the left field line, leading Red Sox manager Alex Cora to walk Will Smith in order to face Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded.

That led to the worst-case scenario for the Red Sox, with Freeman launching a Bernardino breaking ball into the right field bleachers for his seventh career grand slam.

In a blink of an eye, a one-run lead had turned into a three-run deficit. And moments later it was all punctuated with the Red Sox' loss.

“It’s Smith or Freeman. You pick your poison. Smith is one of the best hitters in the league, too. He’s been hot and we’re trying to get a ground ball double play there and it just happened that he hit a grand slam," explained Cora.

Perhaps all of it was simply just another Friday night loss for the Red Sox. It has happened plenty of times, with Cora's club now 4-13 on the first game of a weekend series. Six times it has managed series wins after dropping the Friday affair.

And there were encouraging aspects of the Red Sox' first game in Chavez Ravine since clinching the 2018 World Series. Nick Pivetta was dominant, allowing just two hits over six innings, striking out Ohtani three times along the way. And Jarren Duran picked up where he left off in Texas, accounting for the Sox' only run with his 11th homer of the season.

But the true impactful takeaways from the Red Sox' introduction into the second half came in a few uncomfortable reminders.

Near the top of the list is how thinned-out the Red Sox bullpen has seemingly become thanks to the elbow injuries to Chris Martin and Justin Slaten. In this case, it left Cora turning to Bernardino as the bridge between Zack Kelly and what they had hoped would be closer Kenley Jansen.

"We're gonna be fine. We're not going to make excuses," said Cora when asked about the changed dynamic when it comes to navigating the late-innings. "We're going to keep moving forward and we're going to trust the guys that we have."

There is also that continued problem against left-handed pitching, which the Dodgers were able to expose by bringing in three straight southpaw relievers after starter Gavin Stone.

In the last month - dating back to June 19 - the Red Sox are hitting just .207 with a .611 OPS against left-handers. It is a reality that screams for some attention when it comes to trade deadline priorities.

And as much as the team is built on speed and putting pressure on the opposing defense, it certainly would seem as though a bit more pop could go a long way. This sort of game certainly would seem to be more of an aberration than a trend considering it was just the sixth time since June 1 that the Sox have scored one or fewer runs. But the sting of Friday night - coupled with news that Triston Casas' return is nowhere in sight - might make Craig Breslow take a closer look at big bats over the next 1 1/2 weeks.

It was just one game. And there have been plenty of these sort of one games, especially the nights before Saturdays. This group of Red Sox certainly have earned a healthy benefit of the doubt.

But that one swing of the bat by Freeman cracked open the window of doubt the Red Sox have been able to fend off the past couple of months. It was a reminder that senses are heightened this time of year, a reality that bubbled up in the Red Sox' return to Los Angeles.