A Single Away. Yank Rally in 9th Falls Short. LA 4 NY 2

October 27, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Juan Soto ties game with homer in the top of the 3rd off Yamamoto.

The Yankees rallied against Dodger Ace reliever Blake Treinen in the 9th to score a run and load the bases with 1 out — putting the tying run on 2nd base — but Anthony Volpe struck out and pinch-hitter Jose Trevino flied out to left and the Dodgers took a 2-0 game lead in the World Series, on a Saturday night in LA.

NY had been shut down by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who pitched a 1-hitter into the 7th inning, the only hit a homer by Juan Soto in the 3rd inning to tie the game. Meanwhile Carlos Rodon was smoking early, but coughed up 3 homerun balls — one in the 2nd inning, and 2 homers in the 3rd inning — to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.

The Yankee bullpen of Jake Cousins, Tim Hill, Clay Holmes, and Mark Leiter Jr.shut the Dodgers down the rest of the way but the Yankee offense could not muster enough runs to win.

Ohtani Injured

Shohei Ohtani separated his shoulder trying to steal 2nd base in the 7th (Austin Wells gunned him out) and had to be removed from the game; his status for the rest of the series is unclear.

Boone’s Thoughts

“I thought the first few innings we took a lot of good at bats against him,” said manager Aaron Boone about Yamamoto. “Made him work; had some longer at bats. And then once he got a lead he got into a rhythm and did a really good job of attacking with strike 1.”

“Hard to be patient with him when he’s on the attack and getting ahead,” continued Boone. “His stuff was good; fastball was good; slowing us down with the little curveball; and then the slider and the splitter. He was on his game.”

“In a game where we really got shut down in the middle innings,” added Boone, “our compete to the very end was really good. We gave ourselves a chance to get right back in it and even win that game off a really good reliever. No one said it’s going to be easy, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch we just have to keep at it.”

1. Rodon Comes Out Smoking But Coughs Up HRs

Carlos Rodon came out looking good — breezing through the 1st inning but getting clipped to start the 2nd inning when Tommy Edman led off with a homer to left.

Rodon Roughed Up After 2 Outs in 3rd

Juan Soto tied the game in the top of the 3rd with a homer but in the bottom of the 3rd, Rodon got the first 2 outs, but then allowed a single to Mickey Betts, and a homer to right by old Yankee nemesis Teoscar Hernandez.

Next batter Freddie Freeman homered to right and it was Dodgers 4 Yankees 1. A double by Tommy Edman followed and it looked like Rodon was deconstructing.

But he got Enrique Hernandez to line out to Alex Verdugo in left to escape the rest of the inning.

Rodon came out for the 4th, struck out Max Muncy to start the inning, and was relieved at 63 pitches by Jake Cousins.

“I thought Rodo had good stuff,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “You talk about this Dodger team being really good with leverage; when they get ahead in the count. I think the Edmund count was 2-0. Teoscar got him at 1-0.  The 3-2 to Freddie — Freddie got a good swing on that ball that was a little on the inner half and I thought he elevated it pretty good. Teoscar — (Rodon) missed a spot by a hair; still had life on it at the top. They were able to get to it in favorable counts.”

2. Soto Gets to Yamamoto

The Yanks worked Yamamoto at the start, with Gleyber Torres working a walk in the 1st and Anthony Rizzo working a walk in the 2nd, amidst some solid outs — and finally got to him in the 3rd when Juan Soto hit a BOMB to right for a 1-1 tie.

3. Yamamoto Gets in Groove

But once given a 4-1 lead in the 3rd, Yamamoto started to get into a groove, attacking the strike zone, getting ahead in the count, and keeping the Yanks off balance with his curveball.

He pitched shutout ball from the 4th into the 7th — the homer by Soto would be the only hit he’d allow on the night.

4. Yank Bullpen Keeps NY In It

The unsung hero for the Yanks was their bullpen — Jake Cousins, Tim Hill, Clay Holmes, and Mark Leiter Jr.pitching 4.2 innings of shutout ball to keep the Yankees in it.

5. Ohtani Injured

Shohei Ohtani worked a 1-out walk against Clay Holmes in the bottom of the 7th, tried to steal 2nd and was gunned down by Austin Wells. Ohtani separated his shoulder on the play and had to leave the game. His status is questionable for the rest of the series.

6. Judge Goes 0-4

Aaron Judge had another rough night. His clutch, game-tying, 2-run homer to tie game 4 against Cleveland is in the distant past. He went 0-4 and struck out 3 times — including striking out in the 9th in the middle of the Yankee rally.

7. Yanks Rally in 9th Falls Short

Anthony Banda relieved Yamamoto and got the last 2 outs of the 7th, and Michael Kopech — whom the Dodgers acquired from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th.

The Yankees looked dead in the water, down 4-1 entering the 9th and up against the Dodger Ace reliever, Blake Treinen.

  • But Juan Soto worked Treinen — holding off swinging at his sinker and fouling off his sweeper — running the count 3-2 before ripping a single to left.
  • Aaron Judge struck out on 4 pitches — Soto getting to 2nd on a ball in the dirt to Judge.
  • Then Giancarlo Stanton RIPPED a shot down 3rd that ricocheted off the bag for a single, scoring Soto for a 4-2 game.

  • Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked the count 3-2, just barely fouling off some tough pitches from Treinen before ripping a single to right, moving Stanton to 2nd.
  • Anthony Rizzo worked a 2-2 count — then got hit by a pitch (for the 2nd time in the game!) and it was bases loaded, 1 out — the tying run in scoring position.
  • But Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe on a 2-2 pitch.
  • The Dodgers brought in lefty Alex Vesia to face lefty Austin Wells — and Boone pinch hit righty Jose Trevino.

Trevino hit a first-pitch fastball as a fly to center for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401701039

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