Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked back to his dugout and gave a small tip of his cap to the cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, a chance to help the Los Angeles Dodgers take control of the World Series.
Yamamoto gave up just one hit over 6 1/3 innings, and Freddie Freeman hit a home run for the second night in a row, leading Los Angeles to a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees, giving them a 2-0 lead in the Series.
However, the Dodgers will go to New York unsure if Shohei Ohtani will be able to play after their star player partially dislocated his left shoulder while sliding into second base.
“We’re going to get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow, and then we’ll know more in the next couple days,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The strength was great. The range of motion good. So we’re encouraged.”
Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández also hit home runs off starter Carlos Rodón, who matched a Yankees World Series record by allowing three home runs.
New York managed only one hit before the ninth inning, but they made it 4-2 with Giancarlo Stanton’s one-out RBI single against Blake Treinen. Anthony Volpe struck out with the bases loaded, and Alex Vesia came in to get pinch-hitter Jose Trevino to fly out on the first pitch for his first postseason save.
“Thinking back to my front yard at my house, that’s what we would envision,” Vesia said. Game 3 is on Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Forty-five out of 56 teams with a 2-0 lead in the World Series have gone on to win the championship.
“No one said it’s going to be easy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch.”
Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He is 1 for 9 in the Series and has a .150 batting average with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats.
“Just expanding the zone. That’s really what it really comes down to,” Judge said. “I think it’s trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you. … Plain and simple, I’ve got to start swinging at strikes.”
Yamamoto turned down the Yankees last December and signed with the Dodgers for a $325 million, 12-year contract, which is a record for pitchers. He teamed up with Ohtani to generate a lot of interest in Major League Baseball back in Japan.
The rookie right-hander threw seven scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium on June 7 but was out from June 15 to September 10 due to a strained rotator cuff. This was his best start since returning from the injury.
Yamamoto allowed Juan Soto’s homer in the third inning but then retired his last 11 batters. “He was made for those moments,” Hernández said. “He was doing it in Japan before he got here, and as soon as he got here, he was doing it here.”
Yamamoto struck out four batters and walked two, using a mix of pitches including curveballs, splitters, sliders, and cutters. He improved to 2-0 in four postseason starts.
“It was kind of a mixed feeling because I was very (much) looking forward to it and happy, but then after I felt that I started trying to focus,” Yamamoto said through a translator.
Soto’s fourth postseason homer, hit on an inside fastball, was the only run Yamamoto allowed in two starts and 13 1/3 innings against the Yankees this year.
Soto also hit a single off the right-field wall in the ninth inning and scored on Stanton’s one-out hit that hit the third-base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, loading the bases.
But the rally stopped there. “This is everything to me, playing on the highest stage with literally the two biggest teams you can play for, biggest franchises, most history,” Vesia said.
A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history, turning a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 win, Edman gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo home run in the second.
After Soto tied the game, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom half, and Hernández, who was 3-for-27 in his last games, homered into the right-center pavilion. Freeman, who hadn’t hit a home run since September 16, worked the count full and hit another home run to right-center.
Playing on a sprained right ankle, Freeman has homered in four straight Series games, dating back to Atlanta’s last two games against Houston in 2021. That is one shy of the record held by Astros outfielder George Springer.
Freeman had six days off before the World Series.
“I was able to calm my ankle down,” he said. “So hopefully with the flight tonight — I’ve been swelling a lot on flights — so, hopefully tomorrow we can get it down and get in a good spot for Game 3.”
All three Dodgers home runs came on fastballs from Rodón, who allowed 31 home runs during the regular season, tying for the second most in the major leagues. Los Angeles hit back-to-back homers in the Series for just the second time, after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager connected against Yankees lefty Ron Guidry for a 2-1 win in Game 5 in 1981.
Rodón gave up four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings. He managed only one swing and miss on his fastball.
Los Angeles took a 2-0 Series lead for the first time since 1988, when Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer against Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are 0-2 for the first time since 2001, when they came back to win three straight at home and then lost Games 6 and 7 to Arizona.
Ohtani’s MRI results and decision about his availability will be eagerly awaited by the Dodgers and their fans.
“Not only the dugout, but the whole stadium went silent,” Hernández said. “Hopefully he’s OK and the day off tomorrow will help him get back on the field Monday.”
