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LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Freddie Freeman is much more ambulatory.
But it had the same shock value.
Hobbled by a sprained ankle throughout this postseason, Freeman put an exclamation mark on a Game 1 that packed enough drama to fill an entire seven-game series. His grand slam with two outs in the 10th inning lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
The Yankees were on the verge of taking the early advantage in the best-of-seven series after left fielder Alex Verdugo made a spectacular catch of Shohei Ohtani’s foul fly for the second out of the 10th inning. After the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts, Freeman jumped on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Nestor Cortes and lined it into the seats.
The Yankees will try to even the series on Saturday in Game 2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to start for the Dodgers against Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón with first pitch scheduled for 5:08 p.m.
Just when we all thought dominant starting pitching in the postseason had gone the way of dodo birds, eight-track tapes and affordable housing – up popped a pitchers’ duel between Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty.
Cole gave up a two-out triple to Freddie Freeman in the first inning. Alex Verdugo misplayed the carom off the wall in foul territory, allowing the gimpy-legged (but rested) Freeman to get all the way to third.
Cole retired Teoscar Hernandez to strand Freeman – and 10 more Dodgers in a row after that. Kiké Hernandez broke the string when he lined his own triple into the right-field corner in the fifth inning. This time, Will Smith lined a sacrifice fly to right field, Hernandez tagging and just beating the throw home with a head-first slide for the first run of this World Series.
Flaherty was coming off a troublesome start in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series when he gave up eight runs and lasted just three innings. Feeling “under the weather” that night, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Flaherty admitted the game “sped up” on him. But his fastball slowed down – an average of 91.2 mph in Game 5 against the Mets, 2 mph slower than his season average. And he got Mets batters to swing and miss just twice before calling it a night.
In his first three scoreless innings against the Yankees on Friday, his fastball averaged 94.2 mph and he got nine swings-and-misses.
Nonetheless, the Yankees had runners on in four of the first five innings against Flaherty. He danced away from danger. Until he couldn’t.
Juan Soto led off the sixth inning with a single. Flaherty struck out presumptive American League MVP Aaron Judge for the third time in the game.
That brought up Giancarlo Stanton, who looked bad as he swung and missed at two low breaking balls. After Flaherty misfired with a high fastball, he went to the well one more time. Stanton golfed that one high into the air 412 feet down the left field line and over the Dodgers’ bullpen for a two-run home run.
It was Stanton’s 17th career postseason home run, sixth this postseason (he was the ALCS MVP) including one in each of the past four games.
Shohei Ohtani’s face is all over the promotional material for the World Series. He left his mark on Game 1 – and the right-field wall – with a double that missed going over by just a couple feet in the eighth inning. The Yankees misplayed the relay throw, allowing Ohtani to go to third base. He trotted home from there when Mookie Betts flew out to center field, tying the score.
More drama awaited at the left field wall.
With two outs in the ninth, Gleyber Torres hit a long fly ball to the wall in left that a fan reached over and snatched. Ruled fan interference, Torres was stopped at second base. Roberts put his head in the lion’s mouth – intentionally walking Soto to bring up Judge – and pulled it out when Blake Treinen got Judge to pop out.
Treinen struck out Stanton to start the 10th inning but gave up a single to Jazz Chisholm who stole second against Treinen’s slow-developing motion. The Dodgers intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo and Chisholm stole third.
With the infield in, Anthony Volpe hit a grounder up the middle that Edman dove and smothered. But he could only shovel the ball to Lux at second base for a force out as the deciding run scored.
A walk and a single put the tying and winning runs on base for Ohtani with one out in the 10th. But Verdugo made his running catch, tumbling into the stands. That allowed the runners to move up and prompted the Yankees to walk Betts.
Freeman jumped on a first-pitch fastball and the stadium exploded.
More to come on this story.
Originally Published:
1 of 42
Expand
LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Freddie Freeman is much more ambulatory.
But it had the same shock value.
Hobbled by a sprained ankle throughout this postseason, Freeman put an exclamation mark on a Game 1 that packed enough drama to fill an entire seven-game series. His grand slam with two outs in the 10th inning lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
The Yankees were on the verge of taking the early advantage in the best-of-seven series after left fielder Alex Verdugo made a spectacular catch of Shohei Ohtani’s foul fly for the second out of the 10th inning. After the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts, Freeman jumped on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Nestor Cortes and lined it into the seats.
The Yankees will try to even the series on Saturday in Game 2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to start for the Dodgers against Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón with first pitch scheduled for 5:08 p.m.
Just when we all thought dominant starting pitching in the postseason had gone the way of dodo birds, eight-track tapes and affordable housing – up popped a pitchers’ duel between Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty.
Cole gave up a two-out triple to Freddie Freeman in the first inning. Alex Verdugo misplayed the carom off the wall in foul territory, allowing the gimpy-legged (but rested) Freeman to get all the way to third.
Cole retired Teoscar Hernandez to strand Freeman – and 10 more Dodgers in a row after that. Kiké Hernandez broke the string when he lined his own triple into the right-field corner in the fifth inning. This time, Will Smith lined a sacrifice fly to right field, Hernandez tagging and just beating the throw home with a head-first slide for the first run of this World Series.
Flaherty was coming off a troublesome start in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series when he gave up eight runs and lasted just three innings. Feeling “under the weather” that night, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Flaherty admitted the game “sped up” on him. But his fastball slowed down – an average of 91.2 mph in Game 5 against the Mets, 2 mph slower than his season average. And he got Mets batters to swing and miss just twice before calling it a night.
In his first three scoreless innings against the Yankees on Friday, his fastball averaged 94.2 mph and he got nine swings-and-misses.
Nonetheless, the Yankees had runners on in four of the first five innings against Flaherty. He danced away from danger. Until he couldn’t.
Juan Soto led off the sixth inning with a single. Flaherty struck out presumptive American League MVP Aaron Judge for the third time in the game.
That brought up Giancarlo Stanton, who looked bad as he swung and missed at two low breaking balls. After Flaherty misfired with a high fastball, he went to the well one more time. Stanton golfed that one high into the air 412 feet down the left field line and over the Dodgers’ bullpen for a two-run home run.
It was Stanton’s 17th career postseason home run, sixth this postseason (he was the ALCS MVP) including one in each of the past four games.
Shohei Ohtani’s face is all over the promotional material for the World Series. He left his mark on Game 1 – and the right-field wall – with a double that missed going over by just a couple feet in the eighth inning. The Yankees misplayed the relay throw, allowing Ohtani to go to third base. He trotted home from there when Mookie Betts flew out to center field, tying the score.
More drama awaited at the left field wall.
With two outs in the ninth, Gleyber Torres hit a long fly ball to the wall in left that a fan reached over and snatched. Ruled fan interference, Torres was stopped at second base. Roberts put his head in the lion’s mouth – intentionally walking Soto to bring up Judge – and pulled it out when Blake Treinen got Judge to pop out.
Treinen struck out Stanton to start the 10th inning but gave up a single to Jazz Chisholm who stole second against Treinen’s slow-developing motion. The Dodgers intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo and Chisholm stole third.
With the infield in, Anthony Volpe hit a grounder up the middle that Edman dove and smothered. But he could only shovel the ball to Lux at second base for a force out as the deciding run scored.
A walk and a single put the tying and winning runs on base for Ohtani with one out in the 10th. But Verdugo made his running catch, tumbling into the stands. That allowed the runners to move up and prompted the Yankees to walk Betts.
Freeman jumped on a first-pitch fastball and the stadium exploded.
More to come on this story.
Originally Published:
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
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