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The Dodgers pounded three home runs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto stifled the suddenly-anemic Yankees offense Saturday night as Los Angeles won Game 2 of the World Series, 4-2, to take a 2-0 lead in the Fall Classic.
Yamamoto, a Yankee target last winter, showed why the Dodgers gave him $325 million over 12 years as a free agent, throwing six gorgeous innings.
There was a pall over the game, however – Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers superstar DH, was injured while trying to steal second base in the seventh inning. It was unclear how badly he was hurt, but it’s certainly something to watch because of how vital Ohtani has been to the Dodger attack. He was the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season this year.
Carlos Rodón had a difficult outing for the Yankees, giving up three home runs and not making it out of the fourth inning. Juan Soto homered for New York’s first run of the game.
Here are the takeaways…
-Ohtani was thrown out trying to steal second base by Austin Wells to end the seventh inning and he was in obvious pain after the play and remained on the ground. Replays showed that his left hand jammed into the ground as he started to slide. An athletic trainer held his arm as they walked back to the dugout. On the FOX broadcast, Ken Rosenthal reported that the issue was with Ohtani’s left shoulder.
-They call him “Tommy Tanks” for a reason. Tommy Edman, who was the MVP of the NLCS, started the scoring for the Dodgers by leading off the bottom of the second inning with his second home run of the postseason. He took a 2-0 pitch from Rodón out to left field, 355 feet away from home plate. Rodón recovered enough to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed, but the Dodgers had struck first.
-Soto smacked his homer off Yamamoto in the top of the third, a nice answer for the Yankees. Soto battled Yamamoto for six pitches and finally got the fastball he wanted and pulled it into the right-field stands for a 1-1 tie. It was Soto’s fourth home run of the postseason. All four of them have either tied the score or given the Yankees the lead.
-The Dodgers’ relentless offense had their own response to Soto, though. With two out in the bottom of the third, Mookie Betts singled to left and Teoscar Hernández followed by pounding Rodón’s 98 mph fastball over the fence in right-center. His two-run homer was measured at 107.9 mph off the bat and traveled 392 feet. It was his third homer of the postseason. Hernández entered Saturday’s game just 9-for-44 (.205) during the playoffs.
-The Dodgers were not done after the Hernández homer. Freeman, fresh off hitting the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1, followed with another homer, a long drive to right. It was his second homer of the postseason and the second time in World Series history the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs. They also did it against the Yankees in Game 5 of the 1981 World Series when Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager went deep in consecutive at-bats to lift Los Angeles to a 2-1 victory.
-Obviously, Rodón was bedeviled by the home run, a theme for his regular season, too – he allowed 31 homers during the regular season, second-most in the AL. Rodón came out with one out in the fourth inning and his final line looked like this: 3.1 innings pitched, four runs, six hits, three strikeouts, three home runs. Rodón has allowed five home runs so far this postseason and his postseason ERA sits at 5.03.
-Yamamoto, meanwhile, was a revelation for the Dodgers. Criticized for only delivering 12.1 innings in three previous starts this October, the right-hander threw 6.1 sharp frames. The only hit he gave up was the Soto homer and he struck out four and walked two. He had not thrown that many innings since he threw seven shutout frames against the Yankees on June 7 at Yankee Stadium. He now has a 3.85 ERA this postseason.
-The Yankees made things interesting in the top of the ninth inning against Blake Treinen who they saw and who was dominant in Game 1. Things went a little differently this time around as Soto led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Aaron Judge‘s postseason struggles continued as he struck out as part of an 0-for-4 night with three punch outs, but Giancarlo Stanton stayed hot with a run-scoring single to make it 4-2. Jazz Chisholm Jr. kept the line moving with a single and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Alas, Anthony Volpe struck out and pinch-hitter Jose Trevino, in to face Alex Vesia, put a good swing on the first pitch he saw and gave it a ride but flew out to center field to end the game and leave them loaded.
Game MVP: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The right-hander made the Yankees wish even more he was on their side with 6.1 terrific innings.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees will be off Sunday to travel back to New York in preparation for Game 3 on Monday night at Yankee Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m.
RHP Clarke Schmidt (0-0, 3.86 ERA) climbs the hill for the Yanks, opposed by RHP Walker Buehler (0-1, 6.00 ERA).
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