It wasn’t quite as significant as the fifth inning of Game 5 last year.
But, in the opening contest of a World Series rematch at Chavez Ravine on Friday night, the Dodgers mounted another stunning late-game rally against the New York Yankees.
The Dodgers finally went in front on a bases-loaded walk from Michael Conforto.
“Testament to Shohei,” Freeman said, “who is hitting home runs all over the place.” The rest of the inning played out more methodically.
“Just a rough inning,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Last year’s Game 5 fifth inning was more important than this one.
However, the Dodgers pulled off another incredible late-game comeback against the New York Yankees on Friday night in the first game of a World Series rematch at Chavez Ravine.
And the Yankees’ flimsy defense didn’t even need to help them this time.
The Dodgers produced an inning of similarly unexpected magic, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to turn a three-run deficit into an eventual 8-5 win at a sold-out Dodger Stadium, seven months after their historic comeback at Yankee Stadium in last year’s World Series finale, when three Yankees errors keyed an infamous five-run fifth that propelled the Dodgers to the franchise’s eighth championship.
Shohei Ohtani, designated hitter, stated in Japanese, “I think coming back to win is always good, but the situation is a little different.”. “”.
Ohtani led off Friday’s sixth inning with his second home run of the evening and his 22nd of the season, which led the Major League Baseball league.
After winning MVP in the previous year’s Fall Classic, Freddie Freeman took over from there, hitting an RBI double off the wall to reenact his role as the Yankees’ killer.
Then Andy Pages lined a tying single against a drawn-in infield, officially ending the New York lead, which had been 5-2. After Michael Conforto walked with a lot of bases, the Dodgers took the lead.
The scene caused a flurry of excitement throughout the stadium for a team that has been struggling for the majority of the past month.
“It was fantastic just to get guys on, keep the line going, and get big hits,” Freeman remarked. “.”.
“This is a big win, but every win is important,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández added. Despite being down early, we remained calm. “.”.
Nothing can top the excitement of last year’s fifth inning of Game 5 for the Dodgers (35-22), when Aaron Judge’s dropped ball, Anthony Volpe’s mishandled throw, and Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo’s disastrous miscommunication led to the biggest comeback in a World Series title game ever.
When asked about the parallels to Friday’s match, Freeman replied that he “really never considered it.”. “.”.
However, considering the team’s substitute. 500 games in the previous three weeks, along with a string of injuries that worsened on Friday when Evan Phillips was said to be out for the remainder of the season due to Tommy John surgery and Mookie Betts was scratched with a fractured toe, gave this difficult stretch of the regular season a much-needed boost of vitality.
“It was really important for us to get behind the 8-ball a little bit and figure out how to get back into the game,” manager Dave Roberts stated. “We have a big game to win. “”.
For a large portion of Friday, it appeared as though the Dodgers would suffer the kind of defeat that had become the norm given their 10-11 record going into the evening.
To give the Yankees a 5-2 lead, their starting pitcher, Tony Gonsolin, struggled, giving up four home runs in the first three innings, including a huge blast from Judge two batters into the game.
In contrast, their lineup was struggling against a top-tier pitcher, causing minimal strain against major league ERA leader Max Fried following an opening home run from Ohtani.
“I believe it’s crucial for the game’s flow to get one back right away after giving up a run on [Judge’s] homer,” Ohtani, whose first blast was his sixth leadoff homer of the season, stated. First-inning home runs by the defending American and National League MVPs in the same game occurred for the first time in Major League Baseball history.
Everyone persisted even though “we were in a bad position after that too,” Ohtani said. “.”.
Indeed, the Dodgers turned the tide on the Yankees (35-21) with an inning they didn’t anticipate, as they did numerous times during the previous year’s World Series.
For his 15th home run of May, Ohtani led off the sixth inning with a sky-high fly ball to right that carried just deep enough to land in the pavilion, tying Duke Snider in August 1953 and Pedro Guerrero in June 1985 for the most in a single month in Dodgers history.
Freeman said, “It’s testament to Shohei that he’s hitting home runs everywhere.”. “.”.
More methodically, the remainder of the inning proceeded.
Hernández lined up consecutive singles with Will Smith. By hitting an RBI double to left that cleared Cody Bellinger’s head, Freeman drove Fried out of the game. He then hit a ground ball single through a drawn-in infield to score the tying run after the Yankees switched to right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga to face Pages.
Freeman stated, “You just try and keep that line moving when you can feel a little momentum, guys getting hits.”.
Another change in pitching didn’t help either, as left-hander Tim Hill came in to face Conforto with one out and the bases loaded.
Conforto remarked, “There were many really good grindy at-bats in there, hitting some good pitches, spoiling some pitches.”.
Conforto tried something different against a ground-ball pitcher in Hill, working a full count as he waited for something to go up and over the plate.
However, Conforto “kind of got the feeling he was losing the zone a little bit” on the payoff pitch. “.”.
Conforto therefore took for a run-scoring ball four after Hill hit a sinker on his payoff offering.
“Just a rough inning,” Aaron Boone, the manager of the Yankees, said.
In the seventh, Freeman doubled again, setting up Pages for a two-out, two-run single. Freeman then raced home on his injured right ankle to score on a bang-bang slide, giving the Dodgers more solid at-bats.
And after Gonsolin calmed down to finish six innings without suffering any more injuries, the Dodgers bullpen took the lead, recording crucial outs from Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius in the seventh, Tanner Scott, a struggling late-game option in the eighth, and Alex Vesia in the ninth.
Gonsolin remarked, “It’s still early; it’s May.”. Playing against a team of that caliber and winning is cool, though. “”.
