NEW YORK — There’s only one word to describe the Dodgers’ comeback, giving up five runs in five innings in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, and they did it with one of the most outlandish hits in an incredible rally. I had no choice but to leave it to the man who created it. .
“Crazy!” exclaimed Mookie Betts, his eyes stinging as his teammates poured beer and champagne over his head after the Dodgers clinched their eighth championship in franchise history with a stunning 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees. raised. “It was crazy how it played out, which means we have to play a clean game to beat us.”
The Yankees were unable to play a scoreless game Wednesday night, with most of their mistakes coming in the fifth inning, leading to one of the ugliest games in postseason history, built on Aaron Judge’s two-run homer. The lead of 0 was erased. They scored in the first inning, with solo shots by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first and Giancarlo Stanton in the third.
New York ace Gerrit Cole needed just 49 pitches to go four hitless innings, and in fact, his defense was so strong that in the fourth inning, after a leadoff walk, Judge, with Betts on board, hit the field against the wall in left-center field. He ran up and saved the possibility of conceding a goal. He made a jumping catch on Freddie Freeman’s drive before crashing into the wall.
However, the Yankees suffered a defensive collapse in the top of the fifth inning, committing two physical errors and one mental lapse, allowing the Dodgers five earned runs and tied the score at 5-5.
“When you’re given an extra out and you take advantage of it in a game like that, it’s huge,” he said, batting .300 (6-for-20) with four home runs, one triple and 12 RBIs, leading the series. Freeman, who was selected as a player, said. 5 matches. “You can feel the momentum for us to get back to even.” [shifting]”
Quique Hernandez, who has hit three doubles, one triple, and a home run off Cole for a career batting average of .391 (9 for 23 at bats), took the lead in the fifth inning with a single to right-center field. He broke the no-hitter.
The Dodgers faced the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series and took advantage of five wild pitches to score five runs.
Tommy Edman followed with a sinking line drive to shallow center. Judge, who didn’t make an error in 158 regular season games and 13 postseason games, had plenty of time to race and catch what appeared to be a routine fly ball.
But Judge appeared to see a runner at the last moment, but missed it, and the ball clattered out of his glove and kicked to his right. Judge recovered and threw the ball forcefully to second base, but Hernandez narrowly missed the throw with an aggressive slide from his toes.
“They always have something to say in baseball,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “I never believed that, but you know what? That guy makes an unbelievable catch and misses it. So maybe it evens things out.”
In Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees, Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run double in the fifth inning to tie the game.
(Wally Scully/Los Angeles Times)
This error allowed Will Smith to score two points with no outs, and Anthony Volpe hit a clean grounder to shortstop into the shortstop hole. However, the Yankees’ shortstop spiked a throw to third base in an attempt to advance the first runner, resulting in an error with no outs and the bases loaded.
“I know they gave Volpe an error on that play, but if you slowed down and you saw Kike run to third base, that set up that play,” Freeman said. said about Hernandez, who swerved to his right and dove into Volpe’s base. The slow lane as he approached third. “He has an incredible base running IQ there.”
Cole braced himself, striking out Gavin Lux with a 99 mph fastball and striking out Shohei Ohtani with a wicked 87 mph fastball, coming within one of the game’s escape.
But the innings took another bizarre turn, literally. When Betts hit a slow skiver toward first base, the ball curved slightly to the left, closer to Anthony Rizzo, who threw the ball cleanly to the right about 15 feet from the bag.
Cole initially broke toward first base for coverage, but inexplicably stopped between the mound and the bag, leaving Rizzo hanging out to dry. Rizzo was unable to beat Betts, and Betts recorded an RBI infield hit that cut New York’s lead to 5-1.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “Mook hit the skiver, so Liz couldn’t really run through.” “There was so much spin on the ball that he had to stay there and make sure to catch it. And I think Gerrit…he spent most of his time trying to get out of that situation. Like, I just didn’t react fast enough to recover.”
Betts wasn’t sure what happened during the play.
“I know I hit it, but I had to run it. I’m glad Cole didn’t cover it first,” Betts said.
When Cole put Freeman ahead on a count of 1-and-2, Freeman fouled a 93 mph changeup, then caught a 99.5 mph fastball on the inside corner and flared it to shallow center for a two-run hit. The Yankees’ lead was cut to 5-3.
“I was able to get it down to two strikes and foul the changeup, which was huge,” Freeman said. “Because in those situations you have to foul the pitcher’s pitch. I was able to miss the foul and see another pitch, and thankfully I was able to get the ball up the middle.”
Cleanup Teoscar Hernandez then drove a 1-2 slider 404 feet (out of reach of the umpires) to the base of the center field wall for a two-run double. Freeman scored in the first inning despite hurting his right ankle. The game ended in a 5-5 draw. Muncy elected to walk, and Cole grounded out Quique Hernandez on the 38th pitch of the inning to end the inning.
“A lot of crazy things happened throughout this game, in fact, this entire series,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “That’s the magic, the beauty, the theater of October Baseball.”
There was more to come. The Yankees scored one run in the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead. The Dodgers responded with two runs in the eighth inning to take a 7-6 lead, starting a rally with singles by Quique Hernandez and Edman, and scoring on sacrifice flies by Lux and Betts.
Seemingly indefatigable relief pitcher Blake Treinen threw a season-high 42 pitches, allowing just one hit, three strikeouts, one walk and seven outs from the sixth to eighth innings.
Walker Buehler, the starting pitcher and winner of Game 3, came out of the bullpen and pitched 1, 2, and 3 in the 9th inning to make the save, then struck out the game-ending strikeout from Alex Verdugo as his teammates rushed out of the field. After stealing it, he spread his arms wide. Dugout wraps his right arm in a giant human embrace.
“Tonight was basically a microcosm of our season,” Muncy said during a frenzied celebration in the alcohol-soaked visiting clubhouse. “We took a few hits and we came back. We took some more hits and came back. It’s just one guy after another coming out and doing the job and grinding out.
“Even though we had some injury news, players coming back, more injury news, players coming back, we still hung in there. This game was literally our season. .”
