Author: Rowan Kavner

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LOS ANGELES — When Yoshinobu Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December, he made a strong declaration: He would stop admiring the players he looked up to and instead “strive to become the player that others want to become.”

Ten months later, manager Dave Roberts leisurely emerged from the dugout in the seventh inning Saturday night at Dodger Stadium and took the ball from Yamamoto, but not before shaking the 26-year-old’s hand and giving him a quick hug on the mound. In his first career World Series appearance, in the midst of his first big-league postseason, facing a Yankees lineup featuring the presumptive American League MVP and a pending free-agent superstar set to test the boundaries of every competitive owner’s pocketbooks, Yamamoto delivered the type of outing the Dodgers dreamed about when they made him baseball’s wealthiest pitcher last offseason. 

“From pitch one, you knew he had his good stuff all night,” Freddie Freeman, the previous night’s hero, said after Los Angeles’ 4-2 Game 2 win. “Just an awesome first start in a World Series, everything we needed out of him. He delivered.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

Yamamoto had already dominated the Yankees once in New York, supplying seven scoreless innings in a performance many pointed to as a case study in his ability to handle the sport’s highest-pressure environments. Nearly five months later, three of which were spent rehabilitating a shoulder injury that might have stemmed from that overpowering outing, he did it again at home in the most consequential start of his career, moving the Dodgers two wins away from the ultimate prize by carving up a Yankees team that had once envisioned him wearing pinstripes. 

A standing ovation from 52,725 fans, many chanting “Yo-shi,” awaited Yamamoto on his walk off the mound after allowing one run in 6.1 innings in his longest start since his tour de force in the Bronx. 

“I’m really proud of him,” Mookie Betts said. 

Beyond the significance of the stage, there was one considerable difference Saturday compared to his previous start against the Yankees: This time, he had to face Juan Soto. If not for the Yankees lefty, Yamamoto would have held New York off the scoreboard again. 

The only blemish on Yamamoto’s night came in the third inning, when Soto turned on an inside fastball on the sixth pitch of the at-bat for a solo shot. That was the only hit Yamamoto would surrender. He retired the next 11 batters he faced, which included striking out Aaron Judge a second time, before Roberts handed the game over to the Dodgers’ bullpen. 

The outing was the first time Yamamoto had gone more than five innings since returning from his shoulder injury on Sept. 10, seven starts ago. 

“Obviously, coming over to this league can be a big-time culture shock,” reliever Daniel Hudson said. “This country, this league, is completely different than what he was growing up in, playing over there, so everybody kind of figured there was kind of going to be some growing pains there. But he’s got elite stuff, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. … We were pretty pumped to get him back there at the end of the year.”

Last year in Japan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto built a reputation for bouncing back, most notably on the country’s biggest stage. He allowed seven runs in Game 1 of the Japan Series only to rebound with a 138-pitch, series-record 14-strikeout complete-game masterpiece. 

In his first taste of the big-league postseason, it looked similar. He labored through three innings against San Diego in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, then helped the Dodgers vanquish their first-round demons with five scoreless innings in the deciding Game 5. Gavin Lux noted then that Yamamoto had “a little Walker Buehler in him,” referring to his big-game prowess. 

In the most pivotal performance of his big-league career Saturday night, Yamamoto didn’t need a feeling-out process. There was no need for a rebound. He was nails all night, just as Dodgers vice president of player personnel Galen Carr, who scouted Yamamoto multiple times in Japan, predicted before the start. 

“It’s hard to really put yourself in these guys’ shoes when they’re changing leagues, changing countries, changing cultures and everything about it is different — the ball, the mound, the schedule, the travel,” Carr said. 

Yamamoto said he considers last year’s Japan Series experience as wholly different from his first major-league postseason, in large part because this is his first season in a new league. What Yamamoto and the people close to him believed, according to Carr, is that after an adjustment period, he would thrive. 

After allowing five runs in three innings in his first playoff start, Yamamoto held the Padres scoreless his next time out. Then he struck out eight in his lone start of the NLCS versus the Mets before registering a nearly flawless World Series outing against one of the most patient and powerful lineups in the sport. 

“Every time I pitch, the last three games, I become more comfortable,” Yamamoto said through a translator before Game 2 of the World Series. 

This time, he triumphed in a different way against the Yankees. Back in June, he featured more of his slider than ever before. It was that pitch that helped guide his success in his lone start of the NLCS, too.

But he didn’t need it to flourish again in his sequel against the Yankees. His slider was responsible for only two of his 12 whiffs in Game 2 of the World Series. Yamamoto relied heavily on his four-seamer, which he commanded erratically early on before locking in the second time through the lineup, and a curveball that dropped in for six called strikes. 

“He seems a little bit more in control trusting his stuff,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “Especially at the beginning of the year, he didn’t know the hitters, he didn’t know the league. But it’s not a surprise for me because I know the pedigree of this guy, where he’s coming from, what he did in Japan. I’m excited for him because games like this in the first year, when he comes to the United States, it’s going to give him a great boost of energy and confidence.”

A home run from NLCS MVP Tommy Edman gave Yamamoto an early lead. When Solo’s blast tied it up, the depth of the Dodgers’ lineup became apparent. Teoscar Hernández answered immediately with a two-run shot, followed by a solo homer from Freeman. 

Both of Freeman’s blasts in this series have conjured memories of past Dodgers World Series winners.  

His Game 1 launch was eerily similar to Kirk Gibson’s iconic 1988 Game 1 pinch-hit home run. On Saturday, Freeman’s latest feat hearkened back to the Dodgers’ 1981 Fall Classic triumph over the Yankees. That was the last time the Dodgers had hit back-to-back homers in a World Series game, courtesy of Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager. 

Freeman didn’t get much sleep Friday night. He was tossing and turning, in part because all three of his kids were overtired and awake, in part because he had just deposited the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. On Saturday, he received a quick boost of energy. Freeman received the first standing ovation of the night. 

“Walking up to the plate, my first at-bat today, hard not to have a smile on the inside,” Freeman said. 

The second went to Yamamoto, after his final pitch of the night. Roberts’ trip to the mound to remove him came at a leisurely pace. 

In the bottom half of the frame, Roberts’ departure from the dugout was more hurried and concerned. The Dodgers took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, but it might have come at a cost. Shohei Ohtani suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder when he was caught stealing in the seventh inning. 

Roberts was encouraged by Ohtani’s strength and range of motion and at this point is expecting him to be in the lineup when the series shifts to New York, though he won’t know more until further scans are completed. 

It makes the nearly flawless work from their other major offseason signing, the $325 million man, all the more important. 

“Yamamoto,” Freeman said, “was absolutely incredible.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — It was a sprained ankle, not a banged-up knee or hamstring. It was 10 innings of gritting through pain, not an improbable pinch-hit appearance off the bench. It was a lift of the bat toward the sky and a roar on his trot around the bases, not a pump of the fist. 

But 36 years after a hobbled Kirk Gibson made the impossible happen in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman authored the latest iconic World Series-opening blast for the Dodgers, delivering the first walk-off grand slam in the history of the Fall Classic and sending 52,394 fans into a frenzy. 

“I love the history of this game,” Freeman said. “To be a part of it, it’s special. I’ve been playing this game a long time, and to come up in those moments, you dream about those moments, even when you’re 35 and have been in the league for 15 years. You want to be a part of those.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]

Freeman joined Gibson and Joe Carter (1993) as the only players to ever hit a walk-off homer in the World Series with their team trailing. 

As he strolled around the bases, having delivered the Dodgers a 6-3 Game 1 comeback victory against the Yankees, Freeman said he felt like he was floating. Teammate Max Muncy, who hit a walk-off homer in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, is one of the few who understands the feeling. 

“You black out in the moment,” Muncy said. “From a personal feeling, you don’t remember a lot of it. I’m going to remember this one a lot more than I remember mine.”

With the Dodgers trailing by a run, down to their final out in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases and set up the lefty-lefty matchup. 

On the mound was Nestor Cortes, who was added to the playoff roster after missing each of the Yankees’ first two playoff series with an elbow injury. At the plate was Freeman, whose right ankle sprain and bone bruise had produced a hindered version of the eight-time All-Star.

“You walk a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux said, “to get to another first-ballot Hall of Famer.” 

Freeman was unable to play in two of the Dodgers’ last three games of the National League Championship Series and held without an extra-base hit through his team’s first two postseason series. But the break before the World Series offered Freeman a needed reprieve. 

Throughout the playoffs, each day produced uncertainty regarding Freeman’s availability. Occasionally, like at team breakfast before Game 4 of the NLDS and the off day before Game 6 of the NLCS, the Dodgers would make the call ahead of time to sit Freeman in his best interest. Often, though, manager Dave Roberts would not know until shortly before first pitch whether he could keep Freeman’s name in the lineup.

He began the playoffs 6-for-17 — all singles — before a 1-for-15 stretch. Over those eight games, he had scored just one run. In Game 1 of the NLCS, he crossed the plate and needed Betts to hold him up to stop his momentum. The more Freeman played, and the longer a series went, the more limiting his ankle became. The issue was starting to leak into his swing. 

“Back then, a week or so ago, I could get through four, five innings before I was having trouble walking,” Freeman said. “In Game 5, it started happening pretty much right after my first at-bat. It was just progressing to making it really hard for me to get through the game.”

The Dodgers made the call to sit him for Game 6 of the NLCS with this scenario in mind. The week off meant six days that Freeman didn’t have to run, which is usually what causes his ankle to flare up. He still got treatment for 3-4 hours a day at the field. The time off helped. Three days ago, Freeman knew he was “100 percent” go. There was no question, in his mind, he would be in the starting lineup. 

“They don’t make them like that guy anymore,” Lux said. “He’s gritty, he’s old school, he wants to be out there. If there’s kids out there that want an idol, that’s the guy you want to try to be like right there.” 

Around that time, watching his swings, his teammates saw a different version of their All-Star first baseman. 

“I mean, you know,” Kiké Hernández said. “You know your teammates. You know their swings. You know their mannerisms. He took BP a couple days ago and it didn’t look the way it looked a couple days prior.” 

Hernández was not alone. Reliever Daniel Hudson was shagging balls in left field during batting practice with Chris Taylor when he noticed Freeman peppering line drives over shortstop and third base. Freeman was starting to look like himself again. 

“CT looks at me and goes, ‘I think Freddie’s about to go off,'” Hudson recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, those are Freddie swings right there.'”

It was at that point that Freeman thought he unlocked a cue in his swing with hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc. It wasn’t necessarily any feats of strength or power that demonstrated it. 

“It’s not about lifting or doing any of that,” Freeman said. “If my swing’s in the right spot and you’re hitting line drives and your swing is in a good spot, that’s where you create backspin. I can’t create the spin. If I do, I’m going to topspin and hook everything. When your swing is good and direct to the ball, that’s how you create the backspin.”

“He runs into power,” Van Scoyoc added. “When he’s on time, he catches it.”

On the first pitch from Cortes, he caught a 92.5 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and made Dodger Stadium shake. 

“Those are the scenarios you dream about, two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game,” Freeman said. “For it to actually happen and get a home run and walk it off to give us a 1-0 lead, that’s as good as it gets right there.”

After a dogpile with his teammates, Freeman ran behind home plate to celebrate the moment with his father, the man who has thrown him batting practice all his life. 

“My swing is because of him,” Freeman said. “My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him.”

Three months ago, his father was there to throw to him, too, in the midst of one of the most taxing moments of Freeman’s life. A turbulent second half of the season for Freeman began in late July, when his 3-year-old son Max became suddenly ill. The deterioration was rapid. By July 22, Max could no longer walk. The Freeman family eventually learned Max was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition. Freeman took 10 days away from the team to be with his son, who is now on the road to recovery and back walking again. 

Two days before returning to the Dodgers, the Southern California native went to his former high school, El Modena, and hit on the field with his father. In his first at-bat back at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 5, he received a standing ovation from not only 48,178 fans but also the Phillies dugout. 

“When I was gone the week and a half with my family, that first day I came back, that’s as special as it gets to make my family and I feel the love and the support,” Freeman said. “I tried to reciprocate it that night and thanking them and all this, but I think they appreciate this one a little bit more three months later.”

Tumultuous times off the field were met with hardships on it, when he fractured his finger in August. He decided to play through the pain. He bounced back from a slow start in September with a .316 average over his final 10 games of the regular season, only to sprain his ankle in the Dodgers’ division-clinching game against the Padres on Sept. 26 while trying to avoid a tag from Luis Arráez. It swelled up like a grapefruit, leaving him in a boot as the Dodgers celebrated. He was told it was a 4-6 week injury. 

Ten days later, he was in the lineup for Game 1 of the NLDS, ankles taped up like a football player. 

“He’s doing something that’s basically heroic,” Hernández said.

That night, he not only played but stole a base, as his manager and teammates held their breath. Freeman’s desire to play became a rallying force within the clubhouse of a team that was trying to move beyond the first-round exits of the previous two seasons. 

“A lot of us are banged up,” Lux said, “so you see this guy can barely walk for a couple weeks get out there and still steal bases, run hard down the line, limping all over the place, it makes you want to get out there and play hard, too.” 

For years, the World Series included a Taco Bell “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion.

Before Game 1, Freeman threatened to his teammates that he’d go for it. 

“And we all told him, if you steal a base, we’re going to walk out on the field and take you off the field ourselves,” Muncy said. “Sure enough, he gets a triple.”

Freeman started the day legging out a three-bagger against Cole. He ended it trotting 90 feet further in a walk-off winner for the ages. 

“Might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed,” Roberts said. 

“For him to have that moment, with everything he’s been through,” Lux said, “you couldn’t be happier for the guy.”

Right as the grand slam left Freeman’s bat, Hudson looked up from the bullpen toward the banner that shows the exit velocity. It flashed 109. He knew the game was over. 

Not long after, Hudson thought about Gibson’s blast. 

“I was probably one of two people in here who was alive when it happened,” the 37-year-old reliever joked. “You see it on TV, the side-by-sides on social media as soon as it happens. It was a really special moment for all the fans here, for everybody, especially for Freddie. I know that meant a lot to him.” 

At least for a few hours. 

On Friday, Freeman got to the stadium at 10:30 a.m. to begin treatment. 

On Saturday, he’ll do it again. Game 2 awaits. 

“This trophy is what makes you go through the grind every day,” Freeman said. “When you step into spring training in February, your eyes are on that, to do everything you can. That’s what’s worth it for me.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.

1. Freddie Freeman delivers a swing for the ages

All he needed was the fist pump.

In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.

He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.

2. In battle of Los Angeles products, Giancarlo Stanton delivers

It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.

Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.

With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.

At least, until another local product unloaded. 

Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.

And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.

Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.

In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”

“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”

On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.

3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel

Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.

More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.

That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.

It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.

Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.

Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.

Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.

The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.

Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.

Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.

4. Watch your fingers

Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.

The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.

1. Freddie Freeman delivers a swing for the ages

All he needed was the fist pump.

In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.

He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.

2. In battle of Los Angeles products, Giancarlo Stanton delivers

It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.

Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.

With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.

At least, until another local product unloaded. 

Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.

And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.

Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.

In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”

“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”

On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.

3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel

Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.

More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.

That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.

It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.

Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.

Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.

Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.

The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.

Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.

Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.

4. Watch your fingers

Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.

The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

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