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World Series 2024: Volpe slam sparks comeback as Yankees beat Dodgers 11-4
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World Series 2024: Volpe slam sparks comeback as Yankees beat Dodgers 11-4

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Volpe’s grand slam in the third inning overcame Freddie Freeman’s record-breaking home run, and the New York Yankees avoided a World Series sweep with an 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night, forcing a Game 5.

Freeman homered for his sixth straight Series gamehitting a two-run drive in the first inning for the second consecutive night and once again stunning the Yankee Stadium crowd.

Trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 Series deficit, New York took a 5-2 lead on Alex Verdugo’s RBI grounder in the second and Volpe’s drive against Daniel Hudson in the third. Volpe turned on a first-pitch slider at the knees and drove it into the left field seats.

“I was rushing. I didn’t know I had it,” Volpe said. “And then I blacked out.”

Volpe scored New York’s first run when he walked after trailing 0-2 in the second inning and came home despite an uncharacteristic baserunning blunder that could have cost the Yankees a run. He also doubled and stole two bases.

“Amazing. Volpe, he did it all tonight,” Gleyber Torres said.

Austin Wells and Torres added home runs for the Yankees, who broke the game open with a five-run eighth. New York had scored just seven points in the first three games.

“Good night to us and tomorrow we get another chance,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Los Angeles closed 6-4 in a two-run fifth, including Will Smith’s home run off starter Luis Gil and an RBI grounder by Freeman. Despite a sprained right ankle, Freeman beat a relay to prevent a double play that ended the inning at what was originally ruled out as no, but was overturned in a video review.

Wells hit a homer into the second deck in the sixth against Landon Knack, and Verdugo added another run-scoring grounder in the eighth before Torres’ three-run homer off Brent Honeywell.

Tim Hill, winning pitcher Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver and Tim Mayza provided five innings of one-hit relief with seven strikeouts, and the Yankees avoided what would have been their first losing Series sweep since 1976.

Game 5 is Wednesday night, with Yankees great Gerrit Cole and the Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty meeting in a rematch of Game 1.

“Gerrit is the best pitcher in the game. We really believe in him,” said Torres. “But we have to do the work like we did tonight so we don’t have to put all the pressure on him.”

New York’s Aaron Judge drove in his first run of the Series with an RBI single in the eighth and is 2 for 15 in the four games. Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani is also 2 for 15 after going 1 for 4 with a single, his first hit since causing his left shoulder to be partially separated in game 2.

Twenty-one of the previous 24 teams to take a 3–0 Series lead went on to sweeps, except for the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics against the Chicago Cubs, the 1937 Yankees against the New York Giants, and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles against the Cincinnati Reds. All three of these Series ended in five games.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox, sparked by a stolen base from current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, are the only team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in any round to defeat the Yankees in the AL Championship Series.

New York snapped a seven-game losing streak against the 1981 Dodgers. The Yankees got their first seven RBIs from the bottom three hitters in their batting order, Volpe, Wells and Verdugo, who had gone 4 for 32 with three RBIs in the series .

“I don’t think anyone expected those guys to lay down. We had some at-bats that I thought could have been better, but we knew it was a bullpen game,” Roberts said. “As far as outcomes go, to have six guys in your cage that feel good and rested, I feel good about that.”

Freeman homered when he deposited a slider from Gil into the short porch in right field after Mookie Betts’ one-out double. He became the first player to homer in the first four games of a World Series and his streak of long balls in six straight games is one more than Houston’s George Springer from 2017 and ’19.

Freeman’s walk-off grand slam with two outs in the 10th inning turned the opener, giving the Dodgers a 6-3 victory. The Yankees hadn’t led since.

Volpe walked in the second inning against rookie Ben Casparias, advanced to third base on Wells’ double off the center-field wall and scored on Verdugo’s groundout.

Losing pitcher Hudson loaded the bases in the third when he ruled with a one-out pitch, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled off the right field wall and Giancarlo Stanton walked. Anthony Rizzo popped out and Volpe hit the record sixth strike of the postseason.

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Cole allowed one run over six-plus innings in the opener – Kiké Hernández hit a triple in the fifth when right fielder Juan Soto took a bad route and scored on Smith’s sacrifice fly. Flaherty gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings, a two-run homer to Stanton.

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APMLB: https://apnews.com/MLB