LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Dodgers will get a second chance to win their second World Series championship in five years Wednesday evening when they face the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium after losing the first.
The Yankees will attempt to become the first team to force a Game 6 after losing each of the first three games of a World Series.
Their 11-4 victory Tuesday made them the fourth team to win Game 4 after losing each of the first three games, joining the 1970 Cincinnati Reds against the Baltimore Orioles, the 1937 New York Giants against the Yankees and the 1910 Chicago Cubs against the Philadelphia Athletics.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup will be a rematch of Game 1 — Jack Flaherty for the Dodgers against fellow right-hander Gerrit Cole.
Flaherty allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings in Friday’s 6- 3 victory, struck out six and walked one. Cole allowed one run and four hits in six innings, striking out four and not walking a batter.
Neither starter figured in the decision in the game won on Freddie Freeman’s 10th-inning grand slam.
ESPN’s matchup predictor gives New York a 54.3% chance of winning, the Dodgers a 45.7% chance.
The 5:08 p.m. game will be televised by Fox.
The Dodgers’ lack of healthy starting pitchers forced manager Dave Roberts to employ a bullpen game for the fourth time in the postseason on Tuesday. The had won two of their previous three postseason bullpen games.
The Yankees combined Anthony Volpe’s third-inning grand slam with five runs in the eighth to cut their deficit to three games to one.
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Freeman’s home run, his fourth of the series. It was the sixth consecutive Series game Freeman has homered, dating back to the 2021 Series with the Atlanta Braves, breaking the record that had been set by George Springer of the Houston Astros in 2019.
Freeman also became the first player to hit a home run in each of the first four games of a World Series, according to Sarah Langs, a Major League Baseball researcher.
Volpe’s two-out grand slam off Daniel Hudson gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead, driving in Aaron Judge, who was hit by a pitch, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled, and Giancarlo Stanton, who walked.
Volpe also scored New York’s first run, drawing a full-count walk from opener Ben Casparius with one out in the second, stealing second base, moving to third on Austin Wells’ double and scoring on a ground out by Alex Verdugo, a former Dodger.
The Dodgers pulled within one, 5-4, in the fifth. Will Smith led off with a home run. Tommy Edman followed with a walk, prompting Yankee manager Aaron Boone to replace starter Luis Gil with reliever Tim Hill, who gave up a single to the first batter he faced, Shohei Ohtani.
Edman moved to third when Mookie Betts grounded into a force out and scored when Freeman grounded into a force out. Freeman was initially called out at first, but the Dodgers successfully challenged the call.
However, the Dodgers did not score again.
Wells homered leading off the Yankees’ sixth against Landon Knack, the only run he allowed in a four-inning stint.
In the eighth, Volpe doubled off Brent Honeywell, stole third and scored when he beat second baseman Gavin Lux’s throw to the plate on Verdugo’s ground ball. Gleyber Torres followed with a three-run homer, driving in Wells, who walked, and Verdugo.
Juan Soto then doubled and scored on Judge’s single.
Volpe and Wells had two hits each as New York out-hit the Dodgers, 9- 6, before a crowd at Yankee Stadium announced at 49,354.
The Dodgers were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base. The Yankees were 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base.
Hudson (0-1), the second of four Dodger pitchers, was charged with the loss, allowing four runs and two hits in one inning with one strikeout and one walk.
Clay Holmes (3-1), the third of six Yankee pitchers, was credited with the victory, pitching 1 1/3 hitless innings, striking out two.
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