2024-10-29 13:50:04
NEW YORK – What began as a raucous World Series party – the first in 15 years in the Bronx – nearly ended in a hush.
Alex Verdugo’s two-out, two-run homer in the ninth gave the Yankees a moment of hope… until Gleyber Torres grounded out to end it.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt didn’t make it through the third inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers – propelled by another Freddie Freeman home run – held on for a 4-2 win in Monday night’s Game 3.
And that late-game, nervous quiet at Yankee Stadium reflected the club’s dire situation, down three games to none and facing elimination Tuesday night, with rookie Luis Gil getting the start.
Dave Roberts’ Dodgers are planning a bullpen game, and Yanks’ manager Aaron Boone has said he won’t be tempted to use ace Gerrit Cole on short rest in Game 4.
Here’s our analysis from throughout Game 3:
Down to their last strike, Alex Verdugo turns on an 0-2 pitch and slams a two-run homer. It’s 4-2 and if Gleyber can get on base, it’s Soto as the tying run…
…but he grounds out. The Dodgers are one win away from a title.
It’s Volpe, Rizzo, and Wells at the Last Chance Saloon, vs. Kopech in the ninth.
*from the Michael Kay Collection.
Kahnle came out for the ninth to face Edman (ground out) with Ohtani on deck, and here comes Luke Weaver to face the top of the Dodger order, starting with Ohtani…
…who is clipped by a pitch, but Betts grounds into a DP. We go to the last of the ninth, Dodgers up 4-0, with Michael Kopech coming in to seal it.
You’d consider this an elimination game since the moment Schmidt exited down 3-0 in the third.
Ryan Brasier’s navigating the eighth, facing the heart of the Yankee order, might have just put the lid on the Yanks in Game 3. They’ll have to rally in the ninth starting with their 6-8 hitters.
To face ex-Red Sox reliever Ryan Brasier in the eighth. Yanks down 4-0…
…and the crowd is getting restless with Judge…who draws a one-out walk. But they were groaning after he swung through a 1-2 slider.
Now, Stanton is the fourth Yankee called out on strikes by Mark Carlson, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. whiffs on a 95-mph fastball. Three outs to go for the Dodgers to go up 3-0.
Kahnle now on for Clay Holmes, trying to finish the eighth, keeping it a 4-0 Yankee deficit…
…and he gets the two hitters he faced, potentially setting up Luke Weaver to pitch to the Dodgers’ 9-1-2 in the ninth (Edman, Ohtani, Mookie).
Dave Roberts goes to his other bullpen lefty, Anthony Banda, to pitch to Alex Verdugo. Banda pitched two games for the 2022 Yankees. Dodgers are his third organization since then…
…and he does exactly what they didn’t want, which is walk Verdugo on four pitches. Top of the order now, first and second, two out in the 7th.
But Gleyber strikes out looking. Six outs to go for the Dodgers, up 4-0.
Down 0-2, Anthony Rizzo fights his way back to a full count and lines a sharp single to right-center vs. Daniel Hudson.
One out in the seventh, and here’s Austin Wells to hit for Trevino. Dodgers up 4-0…and Wells looks at a called third strike.
Here in the Dodger seventh, Boone now switches to Clay Holmes to face Teoscar Hernandez, with two out and a runner at first…
…Hernandez singles, putting runners at the corners, but Holmes fans Max Muncy. Still 4-0, seventh inning stretch.
Looking ahead to Game 4, the Dodgers are planning a bullpen game, while the Yankees will send rookie Luis Gil to the mound.
Boone said earlier today that Gerrit Cole was not a consideration to start a potential elimination Game 4 on short rest.
Nine outs to go for the Dodgers to seal a 3-0 lead in this Series, after Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounds into a force play, stranding runners at first and second vs. Alex Vesia to end the sixth.
Here’s Tim Hill to face the Dodger Big 3, starting with Ohtani. It’s getting quieter at the Stadium.
Maybe the Dodgers will regret Brusdar Graterol failing to turn an inning-ending DP on that comebacker by Judge.
They were lucky to get one out, then Giancarlo Stanton continued his Mr. October II stuff with a line single to center.
First and second, two out in the sixth, and now it’s lefty Alex Vesia in to face the lefty hitting Jazz Chisholm Jr., with the Yanks trailing 4-0 in the sixth.
This could be the Yanks’ best chance to get back in this one. Buehler is done after five shutout innings. Graterol in to face Gleyber, Soto and Judge (6-for-42, 20 strikeouts this postseason)…
…and here’s Judge, with one out and Soto (walk) aboard, with a chance to halve the lead.
Jake Cousins hits Gavin Lux with a 2-2 pitch and Enrique Hernandez, who comes alive in postseason, drives him in with a one-out single after Lux moves up on a steal.
It’s 4-0 Dodgers in the sixth and Tim Hill is warming up; he’ll pitch to Ohtani after the Tommy Edman AB…
…and that’ll wait ’til next inning. A strikeout-DP to end the Dodger sixth. Top of the order coming up for the Yanks, and Buehler is out, Brusdar Graterol is in.
Now, both teams have had a runner thrown out at the plate – this time the Yankees, ending the fourth inning with Giancarlo Stanton failing to score from second base on Anthony Volpe’s two-out hit.
Dodgers up 3-0. It was a close play, Yanks’ third base coach Luis Rojas – with two out – felt he had to take a shot with Stanton running.
Perfect one-hop throw by left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, good tag applied by Will Smith.
Stanton doubled after Judge (0-for-2) went after Buehler’s first pitch, a hanging curve, and flied out.
It looks like the Dodgers did the Yankees a huge favor by bunting into an out, wrecking their first-and-third, none out advantage in the fourth.
After that (questionable) out at the plate, Nestor Cortes enters and strikes out Ohtani chasing a full-count cutter, then gets Mookie Betts to line out.
Still 3-0, L.A., going into the Yankee fourth. If you’re a Dodger rooter, you’re thinking that could be a regrettable waste of a chance. But a tremendous job there by Cortes.
Did Gavin Lux score ahead of Jose Trevino’s tag at the plate?
The call on the field stands – he’s out. Umps in the booth have decided this was too close to overturn – but was it?
Sure looked like Lux got his hand under Trevino’s tag, on a safety squeeze bunt by Tommy Edman. Anyway, it’s first and second, one out in the Dodger fourth…
…and here comes Nestor Cortes in for Mark Leiter Jr., pitching to Ohtani.
Buehler had just struck out his fourth straight Yankee when he walked Gleyber Torres again, with two out, but Juan Soto rolled out to first base to end the Yankees’ third. Still 3-0, Dodgers.
Torres has done a sensational job all postseason of getting on base, via walks or hits, but Buehler – or any Dodger pitcher for that matter – can’t keep putting Soto up after free passes to Gleyber.
After falling behind Will Smith 3-1, Leiter Jr. gets him on a full-count comebacker – stranding the bases loaded to end the Dodger third.
This was a critical spot, where the Dodgers could have padded their 3-0 lead – further taking the crowd out of it, and they are growing more and more agitated.
Bases loaded, two out, third inning, down 3-0, and the Yanks are going with Mark Leiter Jr. vs. Will Smith at what has become a critical point in a critical Game 3.
Schmidt lost Max Muncy, walking him on a close full-count pitch. It was Schmidt’s fourth walk in just 2.2 innings. Not the start they’d hoped for.
It’s 3-0, Dodgers, with Mookie Betts’ soft liner dropping into right field on a full-count pitch, and Clarke Schmidt might not be long for this game. He’s pushing toward 60 pitches here in the third inning.
Freddie Freeman draws the third walk against Schmidt, putting runners at first and second with one out, and Schmidt gets a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake. Mark Leiter Jr. is warming up.
Maybe it was nerves, with Clarke Schmidt walking Shohei Ohtani to lead off the game, Schmidt’s first World Series appearance.
But Schmidt needed to be more aggressive against Ohtani, coming off that left shoulder injury in Game 2. Starting his second AB vs. Ohtani, Schmidt fell behind 2-0 after walking Tommy Edman to lead off the third.
But Schmidt battled back this time, getting Ohtani on a grounder to second that moved Edman into scoring position with one out.
This time, with one out and a runner at first, Judge swings through a full-count cutter by Buehler in the first inning. He’s 1-for-10 with seven strikeouts in this World Series.
Judge was given a proper MVP ovation upon his intro and his AB, as he should. But this is the Bronx, and you wonder if the reaction begins to turn if the captain continues to struggle and the Yanks are still trailing.
Stanton taps into a fielder’s choice, and it’s 2-0 L.A. heading to the second.
…not after just being gifted a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but that’s exactly what Buehler did to start the Yankee first.
And that’s how to quickly quiet an electric crowd.
The red-hot Freddie Freeman strikes again, lashing a 1-2 cutter by Schmidt into the right field seats for a two-run homer and it’s 2-0, Dodgers in the first inning.
Freeman has homered in all three World Series games and has homered in each of his last five, dating to 2021 with the Atlanta Braves.
One swing of the bat by Jose Trevino might have influenced Aaron Boone’s thinking for Monday night’s game.
Trevino is in the lineup for World Series Game 3, with struggling lefty-hitting catcher Austin Wells on the bench.
Pinch-hitting for Wells in the ninth inning of Game 2, with the bases loaded at Dodger Stadium, Trevino’s long drive to center off Alex Vesia was the final out of a 4-2 Dodgers win.
“It probably didn’t hurt,” Boone said of Trevino’s solid contact influencing his Game 3 decision.
Wells is 1-for-8 with three strikeouts in the Series so far, and the lefty-hitting rookie is batting just .098 this postseason (4-for-41) with a homer and three RBI.
“I still feel he has a ton of confidence at the plate,” Boone said of Wells, who also controls the running game behind the plate better than Trevino.
But the Dodgers’ biggest stolen base threat, Shohei Ohtani, might not be as aggressive after suffering a left shoulder injury on a Game 2 slide, but the Dodgers superstar is back in the Game 3 lineup.
Trevino will be catching starter Clarke Schmidt in an obviously critical Game 3, the first World Series game in the Bronx in 15 years.
DEREK JETER:Yankees’ legend to throw out ceremonial first pitch for Game 3
Trevino has made just one start to date this postseason, when he caught Schmidt in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series at Cleveland, which the Yankees lost, 7-5, to the Guardians in 10 innings.
In that game, Trevino went 1-for-2 with an RBI single and was replaced by Wells, who pinch-hit in the eighth inning.
Boone has flipped lefty-hitting Anthony Rizzo and righty-hitting Anthony Volpe in the lineup, raising Volpe to No. 6 behind left-hitting Jazz Chisholm Jr.
The manager kept the top of his lineup intact, leaving Aaron Judge − 1-for-9, six strikeouts in the first two World Series games − in the No. 3 spot between Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton, both having productive Octobers.
An argument could be made for starting Jasson Dominguez in left field over Alex Verdugo, in a 1-for-17 postseason slide.
Boone said he “kicked around” some other lineup changes in his head but preferred not to air them publicly.
Boone acknowledged that Carlos Rodon was dealing with a blister during his Game 2 start, knocked out in the fourth inning after yielding three home runs.
“We were paying attention to it, but the trainers and Carlos felt it was manageable,’’ said Boone. The issue was first reported by the New York Post.
Rodon gave up back-to-back third inning homers on fastballs to Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman, and his over reliance on the fastball was noticeable.
Compared to his previous start, the ALCS Game 5 clincher at Cleveland, Rodon threw fastballs 47 percent of the time, compared with 60 percent in World Series Game 2 per MLB Statcast.
Rodon’s World Series start also saw a decreased in his percentage of sliders and curveballs compared to ALCS Game 5, suggesting the blister might have influenced that mix.
Follow here for our analysis throughout Game 3:
Asked if there was any scenario that would include Gerrit Cole being available to pitch on short rest in Game 4, Boone gave a quick ‘no.’
So, if the Yanks are faced with a 3-0 deficit, it’ll still be Luis Gil against the Dodgers in Game 4.
“That’s not something I want to deal with,” Boone said, considering “what he’s been through.” Cole’s season-opening start was delayed until June 19 due to elbow nerve inflammation.
Date: Monday, Oct. 28
Time: 8:08 p.m.
Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
TV: FOX
Watch Yankees vs. Dodgers live on Fubo
Game 1
Friday, Oct. 25
Dodgers 6, Yankees 3
Game 2
Saturday, Oct. 26
Dodgers 4, Yankees 2
Game 3
Monday, Oct. 28
Dodgers at Yankees, 8:08 p.m., FOX
Game 4
Tuesday, Oct. 29
Dodgers at Yankees, 8:08 p.m., FOX
Game 5 (if necessary)
Wednesday, Oct. 30
Dodgers at Yankees, 8:08 p.m., FOX
Game 6 (if necessary)
Friday, Nov. 1
Yankees at Dodgers, 8:08 p.m., FOX
Game 7 (if necessary)
Saturday, Nov. 2
Yankees at Dodgers, 8:08 p.m., FOX
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