Dodgers 4, Yankees 2
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees, 4–2, in Game Two of the World Series Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to take a 2–0 Series lead. It might have been a pyrrhic victory, however, as superstar Shohei Ohtani left the game with an injury after making the last out of the seventh. Manager Dave Roberts said in the postgame press conference that Ohtani had a “left shoulder subluxation” and would receive an MRI either later Saturday night or on Sunday.
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto carved up the Yankees lineup like a Halloween pumpkin, holding the Bronx Bombers to one run on one hit in his World Series debut. The rookie walked two and struck out four across 6 1/3 innings. Yankees right fielder Juan Soto smashed a solo homer in the third to notch the only hit off the Dodgers right-hander.
“Everything was working well today,” Yamamoto said. He later added, “I was trying to focus on facing one hitter at a time, so I was able to throw the strike when I wanted.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Yamamoto, “His stuff was good. Fastball was good, slowing us down with a curveball, then the slider and the split. He was on his game.”
The Dodgers scored all four of their runs on homers off Yankees starter Carlos Rodon. A solo shot by Tommy Edman got them on the board in the second before Soto tied the game in the top of the third. Back-to-back homers in the bottom of the third — a two-run blast by Teoscar Hernandez and a solo ballistic missile by Game One hero Freddie Freeman — gave the Dodgers the lead for good.
What Went Right for the Yankees
Relief Pitching
Yankees relievers Jake Cousins, Tim Hill, Clay Holmes, and Mark Leiter Jr. shut the Dodgers down. Collectively, they held the Dodgers to no runs on two hits, walking one and striking out three across 4 2/3 innings. By doing so, they kept the Yankees within striking distance, giving them a chance for a comeback win.
Put up a Fight in the Ninth
That leads us to the second point. The Yankees gave Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen fits, preventing him from finishing the game. After a leadoff single by Soto and strikeout by Aaron Judge, three straight Yankees reached base. The first, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, drove Soto in with a single off the third-base bag and into shallow left. A bases-loaded strikeout by Anthony Volpe and first-pitch fly to left by pinch-hitter Jose Trevino off new pitcher Alex Vesia quelled the rally.
“Our compete to the very end was really good,” Boone said. “We gave ourselves a chance to get right back in it and even win that game off a very good reliever. I loved the at-bats there at the end — the compete, the fight. Even Trevy got off a good swing off Vesia.”
Offense from Soto
Soto went 2-for-4 with a home run and RBI, also scoring both Yankee runs.
What Went Wrong for the Yankees
Starting Pitching
Rodon allowed four runs on six hits, with three being homers. He only lasted 3 1/3 innings.
Lack of Offensive Output
Prior to the ninth, the Yankees only had four baserunners. One came on the Soto homer. Two more came on walks by Yamamoto, and the fourth came when Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda hit Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo with a pitch in the seventh. Specifically, Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
What Went Right for the Dodgers
Starting Pitching
As mentioned earlier, Yamamoto shut down the Yankee offense.
Bounced Back from Losing the Lead
The Dodgers responded to Soto’s game-tying home run in the top of the third with back-to-back homers in the bottom half. As mentioned earlier, this gave them a 4–1 lead. “It was big,” manager Dave Roberts said frankly of the back-to-back homer response.
What Went Wrong for the Dodgers
Ohtani Injury
Ohtani drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. As Hernandez batted after a Mookie Betts strikeout, Ohtani tried to steal second. Yankees catcher Austin Wells gunned him down to end the inning, but Ohtani stayed down, holding his left arm. On the slide, Ohtani stuck his left (back) hand down, and his hand jammed into the ground. This caused the shoulder subluxation.
Roberts, after stating when Ohtani would receive tests, said, “The strength was great, the range of motion good. So we’re encouraged.” However, he did not speculate further, cautioning that the team won’t know Ohtani’s status for sure until the scan results come in.
The Ninth Inning
Treinen struggled with command in the ninth, uncorking a wild pitch and hitting a batter. Only adept pitch blocking by catcher Will Smith kept Treinen from throwing more wild pitches. It took him 33 pitches to record two outs before Vesia came in to put out the fire.
Quick Hits
This is the 57th time out of 120 World Series that a team has taken a 2–0 lead. Said clubs have gone on to win Game Three 24 previous times (42.9%) and win the Series 45 times (80.4%). The last team to take a 2–0 Series lead was the 2019 Washington Nationals, who defeated the Houston Astros in seven games by winning every game on the road.
The Yankees have faced 0–2 World Series deficits eight other times: 2001, 1996, 1978, 1976, 1963, 1958, 1956, and 1922. They came back to win the World Series four of those times: 1996 over the Atlanta Braves, 1978 over the Dodgers, 1958 over the then-Milwaukee Braves, and 1956 over the then-Brooklyn Dodgers.
This is the fifth time the Dodgers have taken a 2–0 World Series lead. The previous four came in 1988, 1978, 1963, and 1956. They went on to win the 1988 World Series in five games over the Oakland Athletics and 1963 World Series over the Yankees in a four-game sweep.
The back-to-back homers by Hernandez and Freeman were the 19th pair in World Series history. The last came in 2022, when Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins of the Philadelphia Phillies did so in the fifth inning of Game Three. It was the second time the Dodgers have hit back-to-back homers in World Series play, with the first coming in 1981. Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager, two of the eventual three co-MVPs from that Series, went back-to-back in the seventh inning of Game Five against the Yankees to give the Dodgers a 2–1 comeback victory.
Freddie Freeman Feats
Freeman is the first Dodger to homer in the first two games of a World Series. He is the 11th player to do so overall, joining Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (1929), Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane (1930), Dusty Rhodes (1954), Hank Bauer (1958), Boog Powell (1970), Hall of Famer Ted Simmons (1982), Reggie Sanders and Barry Bonds (2002), Craig Monroe (2006), and Hall of Famer David Ortiz (2013). Freeman and Rhodes are the only two players to homer in Game Two after hitting a walk-off homer to win Game One.
With Freeman hitting a triple and a walk-off grand slam in Game One, he is the second player ever with at least two homers and a triple in the first two games of a World Series. The other? Hall of Famer Babe Ruth in 1923, the year of the Yankees’ first World Series title. (h/t OptaSTATS)
Homers Galore
Dating back to Games Five and Six of the 2021 World Series with the Braves, Freeman has now homered in each of his last four World Series games. He is the fourth player to ever homer in four or more consecutive World Series games, joining George Springer and Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson. Springer did so in Games Four, Five, Six, and Seven of the 2017 Series and Game One of the 2019 Series. Gehrig hit homers in Games Two, Three, and Four of the 1928 Series and Game One in 1932. Jackson went yard in Games Four, Five, and Six of 1977 and Game One of 1978.
According to Sarah Langs, Freeman is the sixth player to ever hit multiple World Series homers with multiple World Series teams. He joins Corey Seager (Dodgers and Texas Rangers), Dave Henderson (Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics), Lenny Dykstra (Phillies and New York Mets), Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson (Athletics and Yankees), and Reggie Smith (Red Sox and Dodgers).
Quotes
“No one said it’s going to be easy. It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch. We’ve just got to keep at it.” — Yankees manager Aaron Boone
“This is what you work for as a baseball player. You grind your whole life, take thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of swings of batting practice, just constantly working, working, working. The swing’s never going to be perfect, but you try to get as close as you can. And for it to come through on this stage has been really special. Definitely has been a dream of mine for a while.” — Dodgers shortstop and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman on his postseason performance thus far
Looking Ahead
Yamamoto earned the win as Rodon took the loss. Vesia notched the one-pitch save.
After a day off Sunday, the Dodgers and Yankees will play Game Three Monday at Yankee Stadium in New York. It will be a duel of right-handers, Walker Buehler (1–6, 5.38 ERA in regular season) for the Dodgers and Clarke Schmidt (5–5, 2.85 ERA in regular season) for the Yankees. First pitch will be at 8:08 pm Eastern/5:08 pm Pacific on Fox.
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