Shortstop Anthony Volpe slugged a third-inning grand slam and the New York Yankees erupted for five runs in the eighth inning in an 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series.
The Yankees staved off elimination with a potent display of offense at their home ballpark on Tuesday night, October 29.
Los Angeles won the previous two games by 4-2 margins and triumphed 6-4 in the opener on Friday, October 25 on a Freddie Freeman walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning.
Freeman's heroics continued on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. He homered for the fourth consecutive game in this Fall Classic. The veteran first baseman smacked a line-drive blast over the right-field fence in the first inning off Yankees starter Luis Gil, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
"This is unbelievable, unbelievable what he's done every single game," ESPN Radio analyst Jessica Mendoza said of Freeman during the network's Game 4 broadcast.
Dodgers' Freeman Sets a World Series Record
Freeman extended his overall World Series home-run streak to six games, the first two from 2021 when he played for the Atlanta Braves. He became the first player to homer in six straight World Series games.
"For a guy like Freddie, who doesn't really need anything more to cement his legacy," Dodgers teammate Max Muncy was quoted as saying by MLB.com, "this has been a pretty special run."
The 35-year-old first baseman isn't ready to gloat about his improbable long-ball streak.
"I'll look back on it after hopefully we win and get this thing done tomorrow," Freeman was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. "Pretty cool. Obviously, hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow."
If Freeman hits another homer in this World Series, he'll equal the mark of five set by Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson in 1977 and later matched by Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies (2009) and George Springer of the Houston Astros (2017).
Moments before Freeman's latest blast, Mookie Betts gave LA a spark by slashing a one-out double to right.
Ohtani Goes 1-for-4 in Game 4
Dodgers leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani opened the game with a pop fly to Volpe on a 3-2 slider.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 in the second game since he sustained a left shoulder subluxation (partial dislocation) on an unsuccessful stolen-base attempt at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, October 26.
The National League MVP favorite, who had 54 homers and 59 stolen bases in the regular season, flied out to left-center in the third.
Ohtani singled off lefty reliever Tim Hill in the fifth on the veteran submariner's very first pitch, getting a strong swing and roping a hard-hit liner to center. The pride of Iwate Prefecture kept his left arm elevated again after hitting the single and while running the bases.
In the seventh, Ohtani struck out on a 3-2 split-finger fastball by Mark Leiter Jr, who threw him five consecutive splitters to end the seven-pitch at-bat.
Yankees' Gil Makes World Series Debut
Gil, a 26-year-old Dominican rookie who had a 15-7 record in the regular season, pitched four-plus innings of four-run ball. He allowed five hits, walked two and struck out one.
"I think it's better than what I dreamt," Gil said through an interpreter about his World Series debut, the New York Post reported. "What an experience for me. The trust in the team to allow me to go out there and pitch and compete.
"I'm extremely happy with it. The experience gained from those four innings, can't say enough about it."
A Busy Night for Both Pitching Staffs
Yankees manager Aaron Boone used five relief pitchers the rest of the way: Hill, Clay Holmes (who got the win), Leiter, closer Luke Weaver (who entered the game earlier than usual with two outs in the seventh and struck out Betts) and Tim Mayza.
The Dodgers, short on starting pitching due to a slew of injuries this season, employed a bullpen-by-committee approach from the outset of the game.
Ben Casparius, who only appeared in three regular-season games, pitched the first two innings and was followed by Daniel Hudson, Landon Knack and Brent Honeywell.
After the Dodgers took the aforementioned 2-0 lead on Freeman's homer, the Yankees pulled within 2-1 in the second. Volpe walked and stole second. Catcher Austin Wells followed with a double off the center-field wall, putting runners at second and third. Alex Verdugo then hit an RBI groundout.
In the third inning, the Yankees loaded the bases against Hudson with Aaron Judge (hit by pitch), Jazz Chisholm Jr (single) and Giancarlo Stanton (walk).
Volpe's Big World Series Moment
With two outs, Volpe stepped into the batter's box for the biggest plate appearance of his blossoming career. And the 23-year-old's first-pitch swing sent the Bronx crowd into an uproar as the ball flew 390 feet (about 119 meters) in the air and over the left-field fence. New York 5, Los Angeles 2.
For Volpe, it was a surreal moment.
"I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence," Volpe told reporters in a postgame news conference.
He also spoke about the team's determination to keep vying for the title.
"We've been through so much the whole year," Volpe told reporters, "we're not going to go down easy at all."
Indeed, it was a momentum-changing play.
"The place was shaking. I felt the ground literally shaking," Wells said, according to The Associated Press.
And the crowd, which was silenced earlier in the game after Freeman's blast, became electric again.
The Dodgers cut the lead to 5-4 in the top of the fifth, with Will Smith driving in the first of their two runs in the frame on a leadoff homer to right-center.
Yankees Extend Their Lead in the 6th
In the sixth, the Yankees added an insurance run on Wells' solo shot to right off Knack to make it 6-4.
Neither team scored again until New York's big offensive outburst in the eighth, which was capped by Gleyber Torres' three-run homer to right-center off Honeywell.
Moments earlier, Volpe and Wells had a successful double steal, with Volpe advancing to third base on an aggressive display of base running.
With their championship hopes on the brink, the Yankees displayed swagger and confidence in front of their home crowd of 49,000-plus spectators and extended the World Series for at least one more day.
Game 5 is on Wednesday night, October 30 (Thursday morning JST; first pitch at 9:08 AM here). LA's Jack Flaherty and New York's Gerrit Cole are the scheduled starting pitchers.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, still have a commanding lead in the series and refuse to press the panic button.
"I don't think anyone expected [the Yankees] to lay down," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters. "We had some at-bats that I thought could have been better, but we knew it was a bullpen game. As far as outcomes, to have six guys in your pen that are feeling good, rested, I feel good about that. And being up 3-1, yeah."
Quote of the Day
Speaking to reporters, here's how Boone described the scene after Volpe's grand slam: "You finally got to see the top blow off Yankee Stadium in a World Series game."
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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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