LOS ANGELES — The New York Yankees were supposed to have the advantage in starting pitching.
They were supposed to have more power than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Bronx Bombers, even with their fundamental flaws, were supposed to make this an epic World Series.
Well, two games in, and you wonder if it’s going to be two more games and out.
The Dodgers overpowered the Yankees, 4-2, on Saturday, and lead the World Series 2-0, confident when they return back to Los Angeles from New York, they’ll have a World Series trophy in their carry-on luggage.
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They’ll be holding their breath about Shohei Ohtani, who partially dislocated his left shoulder on a stolen base attempt in the seventh inning and was helped off the field. Manager Dave Roberts said after the game that the likely NL MVP will go for testing on Sunday but the club was ‘encouraged.’
Even if they end up without Ohtani – who is 1-for-9 in the series – the Dodgers can start planning their Los Angeles parade because the Yankees look to be completely overmatched.
The Dodgers, who came into the World Series with only three healthy starters, have outpitched the Yankees, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto never giving the Yankees a chance.
Yamamoto completely overwhelmed the Yankees, giving up just one hit in 6⅓ shutout innings, his longest outing since June 7 when he pitched seven shutout innings against these same Yankees.
The only mistake he made was trying to sneak a fastball past Juan Soto in the third inning, which ended up going 386 feet into the Yankees’ bullpen. Yamamoto left to a raucous standing ovation by the crowd of 52,725.
The outing was even more painful for the Yankees considering they were one of the finalists for Yamamoto’s services when he left Japan last winter, only to be outbid by the Dodgers’ 12-year, $325 million offer.
The Yankees, even with Aaron Judge and Soto, can’t keep up with the Dodgers’ power show. Tommy Edman, the MVP of the NLCS, homered again. Teoscar Hernandez homered. And there was Freddie Freeman, one night after hitting the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, homering again.
Hernandez and Freeman became the first Dodgers to go back-to-back in the World Series since Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager in the 1981 World Series.
While the Dodgers are putting on a Hollywood performance, the Yankees aren’t even mustering a good lounge act.
No one has been more of a dud than Judge, who hit 58 homers this season and will be honored with his second MVP award next month.
Yet, this month, he has been a shell of himself.
Judge went hitless in four at-bats, struck out three more times, giving him six strikeouts in two games. He is hitting just .150 this postseason (6-for-40) with 19 strikeouts and two homers. He has taken 113 swings this postseason, and swung and missed a staggering 49 times.
While Gerrit Cole was fabulous in Game 1, giving up just four hits and one run in six innings before being removed, Carlos Rodón couldn’t even make it out of the fourth inning, giving up six hits and four earned runs.
The Dodgers, despite a scary ninth inning with the Yankees scoring a run and loading the bases on three hits, hung on and are now keeping their fingers crossed that the biggest star in the game will be OK.
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Here’s how Saturday’s game unfolded:
Shohei Ohtani injury
LOS ANGELES – A raucous Saturday night at Dodger Stadium took on an ominous tone after superstar Shohei Ohtani injured his shoulder while sliding into second base on a failed steal attempt in the seventh inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani had suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder on the play and would go for further testing but the team hopeful about the injury.
‘The strength was great, the range of motion good, so we’re encouraged,’ Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-2 win in Game 2 of the World Series.
‘We’ll know more in the next couple of days.’
– Gabe Lacques
Yamamoto fires 6 ⅓ scoreless innings
Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired the final 11 batters he faced and got a standing ovation at Dodger Stadium when manager Dave Roberts removed him with one out in the seventh.
The only hit surrendered by the rookie right-hander was Juan Soto’s solo home run in the second – the Yankees’ last baserunner against Yamamoto.
Anthony Banda took over for Yamamoto and worked around a two-out walk to send us to the bottom of the seventh with the Dodgers up 4-1.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto cruises through five, Dodgers lead 4-1
$325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto has given up just one hit – Juan Soto’s solo home run in the third – with two walks and three strikeouts.
The Dodgers are up 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Teoscar Hernández, Freddie Freeman go back-to-back: Dodgers up 4-1
LOS ANGELES – The harder Carlos Rodón threw the ball, the harder the Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to hit it. And now they have command of this World Series Game 2.
Teoscar Hernandez crushed a go-ahead two-run homer and Game 1 hero Freddie Freeman went deep for the second consecutive night as the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead after three innings of Game 2.
The three-run rally came entirely with two outs, as Mookie Betts extended the inning with his second single of the night. Hernandez then pounded a 98-mph fastball into the right center field pavilion for a 3-1 lead.
Freeman followed by depositing a 97-mph pitch a few sections over from Hernandez’s blast, the back-to-back homers giving L.A. a 4-1 advantage.
Rodón nearly found more trouble when postseason hero Tommy Edman – off yes, a 97-mph fastball – ripped a double. But Rodón escaped further damage.
And now the Yankees have some work to do lest they not fall in a 2-0 hole going back to New York.
– Gabe Lacques
Juan Soto home run ties it in third inning
LOS ANGELES – Juan Soto looked to the heavens, as it seemed the baseball he hit might stay up there a while. But come down it did – in the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen, tying World Series Game 2 at 1-1.
Soto’s fourth postseason home run, off Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was golfed some 38 degrees in the air, but Soto’s strength ensured it would make it well past right fielder Mookie Betts to tie the game. And now, lefty Carlos Rodón is on even ground as he attacks the Dodgers lineup in the bottom of the third.
– Gabe Lacques
Tommy Edman home run gives Dodgers 1-0 lead
Leading off the bottom of the second, Tommy Edman hit a solo home run off Yankees starter Carlos Rodón to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in Game 2.
Acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, Edman was named NLCS MVP with a home run and 11 RBI in Los Angeles’ six-game victory over the New York Mets. He entered Saturday’s game hitting .354 in the 2024 postseason
World Series Game 2 underway at Dodger Stadium
LOS ANGELES – Game 2 of the World Series is underway, offering a fresh start for the New York Yankees. But Aaron Judge’s slump has continued.
Judge struck out with a runner in scoring position in the top of the first inning, his fourth strikeout in six at-bats in these two games.
The Yankees did register a mild victory: They worked Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto for 21 pitches in the first inning. Meanwhile, Yankees lefty Carlos Rodón breezed through a 13-pitch first, working around a single from Mookie Betts to keep it scoreless after one.
– Gabe Lacques
World Series Game 2 starting pitchers
Yankees: Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.96 ERA) – Signed for $162 million in the 2022-23 offseason, the left-hander has 4.40 ERA – but a 2.12 FIP – in three starts this postseason, striking out 22 in 14 ⅓ innings with only one walk.
Dodgers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-2, 3.00 ERA) – The $325 million Japanese import has made three starts in the 2024 postseason, posting a 5.11 ERA in 12 ⅓ innings.
Yankees lineup today: World Series Game 2
Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
Juan Soto (L) RF
Aaron Judge (R) CF
Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
Anthony Volpe (R) SS
Austin Wells (L) C
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Dodgers lineup today: Game 2
Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Mookie Betts (R) RF
Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Tommy Edman (S) CF
Enrique Hernández (R) 2B
Max Muncy (L) 3B
Will Smith (R) C
Miguel Rojas (R) SS
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World Series umpires for Game 2
Home plate: Andy Fletcher
First base: Doug Eddings
Second base: Mark Ripperger
Third base: Chad Fairchild
Left field: Todd Tichenor (crew chief)
Right field: Carlos Torres
Reserve: Mark Carlson
Freddie Freeman’s grand slam: ‘The greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed’
LOS ANGELES — It was Kirk Gibson all over again.
It was Roy Hobbs in “The Natural.’
It was classic Hollywood.
“It might be,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed.’
With one swing of the bat, Freeman created a memory that may never be forgotten in Dodgers lore, a two-out, walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning, leading the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.
– Bob Nightengale
Nestor Cortes reflects on giving up Game 1 grand slam
LOS ANGELES – As Freddie Freeman turned Dodger Stadium into Blue Heaven on Friday night, Nestor Cortes made the long, awkward walk toward what’s often been hell for those on the wrong side of history.
Here’s the thing about walk-off home runs, such as Freeman’s first-of-his kind game-ending grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series: There’s just no avoiding the physical act of trudging morosely through someone else’s party into your own dungeon of demons.
So after Freeman destroyed the first pitch Cortes threw him in the top of the 10th inning, sending it 409 feet into a delirious right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, turning a one-run New York Yankees lead into a 6-3 Dodgers victory, Cortes was angry.
And then he turned pragmatic, sitting down immediately and watching a replay of the fateful pitch – a fastball in that should have been two or three inches up, too.
And then he embraced perspective, choosing not to ponder that his name was enshrined forever in baseball lore, a permanent link to Ralph Branca and Dennis Eckersley and Mariano Rivera and Mitch Williams, pitchers who may have excelled but gave it up at the worst possible times.
– Gabe Lacques
Walker Buehler will start Game 3 for Dodgers
Before Saturday’s Game 2, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that Walker Buehler will start Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Monday night.
“We love Walker in big games. The road isn’t going to faze him,” Roberts told reporters. “It also allows him potentially to be available for a Game 7 too.”
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