Jack Flaherty was removed early for the second straight time while trying to help his hometown team clinch a postseason series, giving up four runs and getting just four outs as the New York Yankees took a quick lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in World Series Game 5 on Wednesday night.
With the Dodgers leading the Series 3-1, the 29-year-old right-hander walked Juan Soto with one out in the first inning. Aaron Judge then hit a fastball into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. Flaherty briefly turned, showing his disappointment, and looked away, knowing the ball was gone.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed just four pitches later by hitting a fastball into the right-field stands. Flaherty watched as that ball landed.
Anthony Volpe doubled to start the second inning and scored, leading to Anthony Banda replacing Flaherty after only nine batters.
Flaherty threw just 35 pitches, a day after the Dodgers used relievers Ben Casparius, Daniel Hudson, Landon Knack, and Brent Honeywell in an 11-4 loss.
Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler are the only starting pitchers on the Dodgers’ World Series roster due to injuries to Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, and Emmet Sheehan.
Manager Dave Roberts saved his top relievers for Game 5, even though Los Angeles was behind 5-4 in the sixth inning of Game 4. Roberts said that after thinking it over, he wouldn’t have changed his decisions.
“Right now we’re in a good spot, a great spot,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
Flaherty had previously allowed eight runs, eight hits, and four walks over three innings during a 12-6 loss at the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series. Roberts mentioned that Flaherty was recovering from an illness on the day of that game.
Flaherty bounced back to allow two runs over 5 1/3 innings in the World Series opener, which the Dodgers won in 10 innings.
