Freddie Freeman, who was hobbled through much of the playoffs with an ankle injury, hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning Friday night to lift the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.
The Yankees had taken a one-run lead in the top of the inning thanks in large part to Jazz Chisholm’s speed — he singled and stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Anthony Volpe.
Then the Yanks got within one out of winning, but Freeman connected for the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. It came against Nestor Cortes, who had come in two batters earlier to face Shohei Ohtani with two runners on. He got one out and then the Yanks elected to walk Mookie Betts intentionally to pitch to Freeman.
Freeman’s blast means the Yankees wasted another Postseason home run by Giancarlo Stanton and a fine performance by Gerrit Cole, who allowed one run in six innings.
Here are the takeaways…
– With runners on first and second and one out in the 10th and Shohei Ohtani coming to bat, the Yanks brought in Cortes, who hadn’t been on a postseason roster this year until the World Series. Cortes, normally a starter who had not pitched since Sept. 18, got Ohtani to fly out to left. Alex Verdugo made a fine running catch in foul territory and tumbled into the stands. Umpires ruled the runners would move up because, presumably, Verdugo went out of play and threw the ball into the infield from the stands. The Yankees intentionally walked Betts to pitch to Freeman with two out and the bases
– Stanton’s home run was his sixth of this postseason, which ties him for the most by a Yankee in a single October. He also did it in 2020, when he matched the mark originally set by Bernie Williams in 1999 and equaled by Álex Rodríguez in 2009. Stanton’s homer, the 17th of his postseason career, gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. It came off a 1-2 breaking ball — a 79 mph knuckle curve — and was driven deep to left. According to MLB’s Statcast, it left Stanton’s bat at 11.6 mph and traveled 412 feet. Perhaps befitting such a key drive, Stanton stood at the plate and watched it. He has now homered in four straight postseason games. Entering the game, Stanton had hit 10 home runs in 25 lifetime games at Dodger Stadium.
– Jack Flaherty came out of the game quickly afterward, but he gave the Dodgers a strong start. Los Angeles had been averaging 3.6 innings per start in the postseason, but Flaherty lasted 5.1 innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He struck out six and walked one.
– The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, getting going with one out when Kiké Hernández hit a liner to right that went for a triple. Juan Soto tried to run the ball down and could not stop himself when the ball got past him, so Hernández made third on a drive that seemed like a double off the bat. Will Smith followed with a sacrifice fly to right field for the lead. Soto actually made a strong throw on the play, but Hernández slid headfirst and beat it.
– In the seventh, the Dodgers threatened, putting runners on first and second with no out. Teoscar Hernádez led off with a single off Cole, which ended Cole’s night, and then reliever Clay Holmes hit Max Muncy with a pitch. Hernández hit a sac bunt to move the runners to second and third, but the Dodgers could not take advantage of their chance. Smith got jammed by Holmes and weakly popped up. Then Tommy Kahnle entered the game and got Gavin Lux on a grounder.
– Cole was mostly terrific, especially early. At one point, he retired 11 consecutive Dodgers. In the bottom of the fourth, he broke Freeman’s bat on consecutive pitches and the second one produced a weak grounder. Cole threw six-plus innings and allowed one run and four hits while striking out four and walking none. He threw 88 pitches and lowered his ERA this postseason to 2.82.
-The Dodgers tied the score at 2-2 in the eighth inning with a little help from some sloppy Yankee defense. With one out, Ohtani slammed a ball off the top of the right-field wall for a double. He zipped over to third when Gleyber Torres let the relay from Soto skip away. Then Ohtani scored on a deep fly to center by Mookie Betts.
– Aaron Judge, under heavy scrutiny this postseason, was 1-for-5 with a single and three strikeouts. He is now 6-for-36 (.167) in the postseason with 16 strikeouts.
Game MVP: Freddie Freeman
Freeman, who hit the kind of home run that every kid dreams about.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Dodgers meet again for Game 2 on Saturday night in Los Angeles. First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m.
Carlos Rodon will take the mound against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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