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    • Yankees watch the Dodgers walk away with a classic World Series Game 1
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    Yankees watch the Dodgers walk away with a classic World Series Game 1

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    LOS ANGELES – Every strange twist of this World Series opener led to Freddie Freeman, with a Kirk Gibson-esque moment at Dodger Stadium.

    Freeman’s two-out grand slam off Nestor Cortes stumbled on a tender right ankle and turned a one-run Yankee lead into a 6-3 victory for the Dodgers, making Friday night’s 10-inning Game 1 an instant fall classic.

    That’s the Hollywood version.

    Back on Broadway, they’ll remember this one for the missed opportunities, odd baserunning and fielding errors that have ruined these Yankees before.

    On this biggest stretch, the first Yankees-Dodgers World Series meeting in 43 years, the clubs seemed evenly matched — save for the Yanks’ ill-timed fundamental mistakes.

    Juan Soto took a bad route in the fifth, turning an Enrique Hernandez double into a triple, resulting in a Dodger run.

    In the eighth, Shohei Ohtani nearly hit one through the right field wall for a double, then gifted third base when Gleyber Torres casually backhanded Soto’s throw-in.

    After going past Torres on an error, Mookie Betts’ sac-bunt made it 2-2.

    Jazz Chisholm stole two bases in the 10e To get runners on the corners, Anthony Rizzo stopped running from first to second base on a mishandled grounder by Anthony Volpe, scoring the go-ahead run but taking a runner out of scoring position.

    This time the home run couldn’t save the Yankees

    And the presumptive AL MVP is still looking for his A-swing in October.

    “All you can do is flush it and get ready for the next one,” said Aaron Judge, who is hitting .167 (6-for-36) with 16 strikeouts this postseason.

    “That’s where we had our opportunity, back and forth all game,” the Yankees captain said. “We had our chances.”

    With a 3-2 deficit you end up in the 10ethe left-swinging Freeman and the Dodgers had the last chance.

    Luke Weaver was already used for five outs, so Jake Cousins ​​started at the 10e and ran into one-out trouble with a walk and a grounder that eluded Oswaldo Cabrera – now filling in at second base – for a hit.

    That gave Shohei Ohtani runners at first and second base, and that’s when Aaron Boone called up Nestor Cortes, who hadn’t pitched since September 18 because of a strained left flexor.

    “I just liked the match,” Boone said of choosing Cortes over side-armed lefty Tim Hill, who was warming up.

    “I knew it would be hard to double Shohei if Tim Hill gets him on the ground, and then Mookie (Betts) behind him is a tough match.

    “So I felt convicted in that place together with Nestor.”

    Ohtani quickly became a 2-for-13 hitter against Cortes, who watched left fielder Alex Verdugo make a tumbled catch off Ohtani’s foul ball.

    Boone’s next choice was to walk Betts and set up the left-left matchup with Freeman, who launched the first grand slam of the World Series into right field.

    That’s about the same location where Gibson sent his shot in the 1988 World Series opener, turning a one-run deficit against Oakland into a 5-4 victory that sent Dodger Stadium into delirium.

    Those gritty ’88 Dodgers would win the Series in five against the mighty Athletics.

    “We are the two best teams out there,” Verdugo said of this meeting between teams with the best records in their league. “We will come out (Sunday) with a lot of confidence and compete again.

    Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole had pitched well into the seventh inning, and Giancarlo Stanton maintained his modern-day Mr. October status with his sixth home run in 10 games this postseason.

    That miraculous go-ahead, two runs, ended starter Jack Flaherty’s night in the sixth.

    But the Yankees are still waiting for Judge, an overall .203 hitter (43-for-212) in 55 career postseason games with a whopping 85 strikeouts.

    That includes three more in Game 1, all against Flaherty – swinging through third-strike sliders, curves and fastballs.

    And manager Dave Roberts was bold enough to repeat a strategy he used a few times, intentionally walking Juan Soto with a base open to throw to Judge.

    That happened in the ninth, and Blake Treinen quickly got ahead of Judge on two called strike sliders, eventually pulling out a 90-mph fastball.

    “It’s part of their strategy,” Soto (1-for-3, two walks) said of the free pass. “Certainly, I would love to have Judge there at that moment, every time.”

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