Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched brilliantly over 6⅓ innings, allowing just one hit in Game 2 of the World Series, but there was a somber undertone to the Los Angeles Dodgers' winning performance.
Shohei Ohtani sustained a shoulder injury on a stolen-base attempt in the seventh inning and left the game.
The Dodgers' Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and Game 1 hero Freddie Freeman all slugged home runs off New York Yankees starter Carlos Rodon in a 4-2 victory on Saturday night, October 26.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani had "a little left shoulder subluxation" when he attempted to steal second base. On his slide into the bag, Ohtani's left hand landed hard as it hit the dirt.
The Japanese superstar clutched his left arm after being tagged out and when he walked off the field with a Dodgers trainer, the team staff member held on to Ohtani's wrist. A subluxation is more commonly known as a partial dislocation.
Postgame Reaction to Ohtani's Injury
After the game, Roberts addressed the injury issue at the start of a news conference. He also mentioned that Ohtani will undergo MRI scans later that night or on Sunday.
"The strength was great [and] the range of motion good," Roberts said of Ohtani's left shoulder. "So we're encouraged. But obviously I can't speculate because we didn't get the scans yet. ... Again, with the strength, the range of motion good, that's certainly a positive."
NHK reported that Ohtani "popped his shoulder out of socket," Dodgers beat reporter Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweeted.
How did teammate Hernandez describe the reaction to the injury?
"Not only the dugout, but the whole stadium went silent," the starting left fielder told reporters. "You know how big Shohei is for this team. Hopefully he's OK, and the day off tomorrow will help him get back on the field Monday."
Ohtani went 0-for-3, including a strikeout, with a walk in Game 2.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is on Monday (starting at 9:08 Tuesday morning JST) at Yankee Stadium. Los Angeles holds a 2-0 lead.
Yamamoto Excels in World Series Debut
Yamamoto allowed a solo home run to right to Yankees slugger Juan Soto with two outs in the third inning.
After that, Yamamoto retired 11 straight batters to cap his stellar effort.
He left the game with a 4-1 lead with one out in the top of the seventh after making 86 pitches. Roberts shook his hand and hugged him and Dodgers fans gave the three-time Sawamura Award winner a standing ovation.
In his debut season in MLB after leading the Orix Buffaloes to three straight Japan Series appearances in 2021-23, Yamamoto has impressed Roberts with his demeanor.
"I think the thing that excites me is his temperament, poise, the ability to control his emotions and still make pitches," the Dodgers skipper told reporters before Game 2.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone assessed Yamamoto's performance in the postgame news conference.
"I thought the first few innings we took a lot of good at-bats against him, made him work some longer at-bats," Boone said. "Then kind of once he got a little bit of that lead, he kind of got into a rhythm, really did a good job of attacking at strike one. It was hard to be patient with him when he was on the attack and getting ahead."
Added Boone, "I thought he was on his game."
Yamamoto Utilizes His Full Arsenal of Pitches
Effectively mixing his fastball, split-finger fastball, curveball and slider, Yamamoto stymied the high-powered Yankees lineup. Roberts opted to replace him with one out in the seventh with left-handed reliever Anthony Banda.
How did Yamamoto, who is in the first year of a 12-year contract with the Dodgers, analyze his pitching performance?
"I was able to stay calm and collected. I threw with everything I had from the first inning," the 26-year-old was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
He added, "I think the cheers from everyone in the crowd made me perform better than I would have otherwise."
Rodon took the loss after giving up six hits and four runs in 3⅓ innings. He also fanned three. Four Yankees relievers combined to hold the Dodgers scoreless the rest of the game.
Homers Carry the Dodgers to Another Victory
Leading off the second, Edman smacked a 2-0 fastball from Rodon down the left-field line, a solo blast that gave his team the early lead a day after Freeman's walk-off grand slam ended Game 1 in the 10th.
After Soto tied it up with his solo shot in the top of the third that landed in the Yankees bullpen, the Dodgers came right back with a display of power in the bottom of the inning.
With two outs, Mookie Betts singled to left and Hernandez followed with a two-run blast to right-center to make it 3-1. It was Hernandez's third postseason homer this year.
The next batter, Freeman, clubbed a 3-2 offering from Rodon over the right-center field wall to increase the lead to 4-1.
"I thought Rodon had good stuff. Kind of looking at the homers there, we talk about this Dodger team being really good in leverage when they get ahead in the count," Boone said.
Too Little, Too Late for the Yankees
Trailing 4-1 entering the ninth, New York added a run in the final inning. Soto, who had two of the Yankees' four hits, whacked a leadoff single to right off Blake Treinen and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
After Aaron Judge, who led the American League with 58 homers this season, struck out for the third time, cleanup hitter Giancarlo Stanton smacked a single to left. The ball ricocheted off of third base and took a high bounce for the Yankees' first hit since Soto's homer, scoring Soto to make it 4-2.
ESPN Radio play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi described it as "an absolute bullet off the third-base bag."
Jazz Chisholm Jr singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe for the second out.
Alex Vesia then took over the pitching duties. He earned the save, retiring pinch hitter Jose Trevino on a flyout to center.
World Series Notes
The Dodgers' Walker Buehler (1-6, 5.38 ERA in the 2024 regular season) and the Yankees' Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85) are the starting pitchers for Game 3.
Do you recall?: The late Hideki Irabu became the first Japanese player to play for a World Series champion, suiting up for the title-winning Yankees in 1998 and '99.
In 2007, Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox became the first Japanese pitcher to win a World Series game, holding the Colorado Rockies to two runs in 5⅓ innings in Game 3. He also hit a two-run single in Boston's 10-5 win.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
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