- Anthony Volpe hit the biggest hit of his young career and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 on Tuesday night to avoid elimination in Game 4 of the World Series.
- Volpe, just 23, hit a grand slam in the third inning that gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead. Despite a Dodgers comeback attempt, the New Yorkers held on to force a fifth game.
- “I was running. I didn’t know if it was a racetrack,” Volpe said. “Then I don’t remember anything.”
- The Dodgers still lead 3-1 and will have another chance to finish it off at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
- Volpe hit his first career playoff home run and added a double in the eighth inning. He drove in four runs and walked one.
- “Extraordinary. Volpe did everything tonight,” noted his teammate Gleyber Torres.
- Austin Wells hit two safeties and drove in a run, Alex Verdugo drove in two teammates while Torres hit a three-run homer for the Yankees.
- “It was a good night for us. We have another chance on Wednesday,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
- Starter Luis Gil didn’t get off to the expected start for the home team and struggled in the fifth inning. He allowed four runs, five hits and two walks in four innings on the mound for New York.
- The Yankees’ relief, however, did the work for five innings, limiting the Dodgers to just one hit. Clay Holmes (3-1) earned the win for his work over an inning and a third.
- Ace Gerrit Cole will take the mound for the Yankees on Wednesday, facing Jack Flaherty.
- “Gerrit is the best pitcher in the league. We have a lot of faith in him,” Torres insisted. “We have to hit like we did tonight so we don’t put all the pressure on him.”
- Freddie Freeman gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the first inning and finished the game with three RBIs. Will Smith added a solo shot, but it was not enough to eliminate the “Bronx Bombers”.
- It was a back-to-back game for the Dodgers and trouble came quickly. Daniel Hudson (0-1) gave up a grand slam to Volpe and he took the loss.
- “Nobody expected them to slump,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the Yankees. “We had a couple of plate appearances that could have been better, but we knew it was a bullpen game. To have six relievers that feel good and are rested, I’m comfortable with that.
- The Resilience of the Yankees
- The Dodgers got just three batters before opening the scoring, the first they’ve done in any World Series game so far.
- Mookie Betts got the ball rolling with a one-out double and didn’t stay on the bases for long. On the fourth pitch of his shift, Freeman homered to right to put his team ahead.
- It was Freeman’s sixth consecutive World Series home run, a Major League Baseball record. Freeman also became the first player in history to hit a home run in each of the first four World Series games.
- The Yankees tried to respond in the bottom of the first inning, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs. Giancarlo Stanton grounded out to end the threat.
- New York rallied in the second inning. Volpe drew a walk and stole second base. Volpe’s poor run on Wells’ booming double slowed him down at third, but he still cut the deficit to 2-1 on Verdugo’s sacrifice fly.
- The Yankee Stadium crowd came alive in the third inning. Aaron Judge was hit and went to third on a single by Jazz Chisholm Jr. The bases were loaded after Stanton walked, setting up Volpe. Volpe catapulted his first pitch of the game against Daniel Hudson over the left-field fence to make it 5-2.
- The Dodgers came to their senses in the fifth inning and scored two runs to tie the game.
- As the leadoff hitter, Smith jumped on a Gil fastball to hit his third home run of the series. After a walk to Tommy Edman and a single by Shohei Ohtani, fielders’ choices by Betts and Freeman produced the visitors’ fourth run.
- The Yankees gave themselves a little cushion in the sixth inning. Wells sent a Landon Knack fastball deep into the right-field stands to give his team a 6-4 lead.
- The floodgates opened in the eighth inning, when the Yankees put the game out of reach. Torres delivered the final blow with a three-run homer to right.
- This is the 12th World Series meeting between the Yankees and Dodgers, but the first since 1981.
- The Dodgers are looking for their eighth World Series title and second in five years. The Yankees are aiming for their 28th , but they haven’t won the title since 2009.
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