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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.
And this time, they didn’t even need an assist from the Yankees’ porous defense.
Seven months to the day since the Dodgers’ 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 — the team produced an inning of similarly unexpected magic, scoring four times in the bottom of the sixth to turn a three-run deficit into an eventual 8-5 win at a sold-out Dodger Stadium.
“The situation is a little different,” designated hitter Shohei Ohtani said in Japanese, “but I think coming back to win is always good.”
Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips began the season on the injured list, then had seven consecutive scoreless outings before injuring his elbow three weeks ago.
It was Ohtani who got Friday’s sixth inning started, leading it off with his second home run of the night and MLB-leading 22nd of the season.
Freddie Freeman took over from there, hitting an RBI double off the wall to reprise his role of Yankees killer after winning MVP honors in last year’s Fall Classic.
Then, what had once been a 5-2 New York lead officially evaporated when Andy Pages lined a tying single against a drawn-in infield. The Dodgers finally went in front on a bases-loaded walk from Michael Conforto.
For a team that has been grinding for much of the last month, the sequence led to a scene of stadium-wide elation.
“Just getting guys on, keeping the line moving, getting huge hits,” Freeman said, “that was awesome.”
“Every win is important, [but] this one is a big one,” added outfielder Teoscar Hernández. “We were down early, [but] we didn’t panic.”
Highlights from the Dodgers’ 8-5 win over the Yankees on Friday night.
For the Dodgers (35-22), nothing will compare to the ecstasy of last year’s fifth inning in Game 5; when a dropped ball from Aaron Judge, an errant throw from Anthony Volpe and calamitous miscommunication between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo keyed the largest comeback in a title-clinching game in World Series history.
Asked about the similarities to Friday’s game, Freeman said he “actually never thought about it.”
But, given the team’s sub-.500 play over the last three weeks, and a rash of injuries that got worse Friday when Mookie Betts was scratched with a fractured toe and Evan Phillips was ruled out for the rest of the season because he’ll need Tommy John surgery, Friday injected this trying stretch of the regular season with a sorely needed jolt of life.
“For us to get behind the 8-ball a little bit … and find a way to scratch back into the game was huge,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Huge game for us to win.”
For much of Friday, the Dodgers seemed headed to the kind of loss that had become commonplace over their 10-11 slide entering the night.
Their starting pitcher struggled, with Tony Gonsolin giving up four home runs in the first three innings — including a mammoth blast from Judge two batters into the game — to hand the Yankees a 5-2 lead.
Their lineup, meanwhile, was sputtering against a premium pitcher, inducing little stress against major league ERA leader Max Fried after an Ohtani homer to start the night.
“After giving up a run on [Judge’s] homer, I think it’s important for the flow of the game to get one back right away,” said Ohtani, whose first blast was his sixth leadoff homer of the season. It marked the first time in MLB history that the reigning MVPs of both the American and National League hit first-inning home runs in the same game.
“We were in a bad position after that too,” Ohtani noted, “but everyone didn’t give up.”
Indeed, as they did so many times during last year’s World Series, the Dodgers flipped the script on the Yankees (35-21) with an inning they never saw coming.
Ohtani’s blast to lead off the sixth was a sky-high fly ball to right, carrying just deep enough to land in the pavilion for his 15th home run of May (tying Pedro Guerrero in June 1985 and Duke Snider in August 1953 for the most in a single month in Dodgers history).
“Testament to Shohei,” Freeman said, “who is hitting home runs all over the place.”
The rest of the inning played out more methodically.
Hernández and Will Smith lined back-to-back singles. Freeman chased Fried from the game with an RBI double to left that got over Cody Bellinger’s head. Then, after the Yankees turned to right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga to face Pages, he hammered a ground-ball single through a drawn-in infield to bring home the tying run.
“When you can feel a little momentum, guys getting hits, you just try and keep that line moving,” Freeman said.
Another pitching change, with left-hander Tim Hill entering to face Conforto with the bases loaded and one out, didn’t help either.
“There were a lot of really good grindy at-bats in there, hitting some good pitches, spoiling some pitches,” Conforto said.
Against a ground-ball pitcher in Hill, Conforto took a different approach, working a full count while waiting for something up and over the plate.
On the payoff pitch, however, Conforto “kind of got the feeling he was losing the zone a little bit.”
Thus, when Hill pulled a sinker on his payoff offering, Conforto took for a run-scoring ball four.
Mookie Betts sustained a fractured toe while walking to the bathroom at home in the dark. The Dodgers shortstop hopes to return to the lineup soon.
“Just a rough inning,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
The Dodgers took more good at-bats in the seventh, when another double from Freeman set up Pages for a two-out, two-run single — with Freeman racing home on his battered right ankle to score on a bang-bang slide.
And after Gonsolin settled down to work through six innings without further damage, the Dodgers’ bullpen made the lead stand, getting key outs from Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius in the seventh, then struggling late-game options Tanner Scott in the eighth and Alex Vesia for a ninth-inning save.
“It’s still early, it’s still May,” Gonsolin said. “But it’s cool to play that kind of caliber team and come out on top.”
“We try to win each and every game, of course,” Ohtani added. “But I think [tonight was] a special atmosphere. I think it was huge to have taken the [first game] of the series.”
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