Grand slams are fun, aren’t they? The momentum in this 2024 World Series has been dictated by a pair of them. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off in Game 1 set the tone for what would become a 3-0 series lead for the Dodgers, and Anthony Volpe’s Game 4 grand slam helped the Yankees avoid a sweep, but can New York keep riding that wave?
That’s the question the Yankees and Gerrit Cole have to answer on Wednesday in Game 5. The New York ace (1-0, 2.82 ERA, 22 1/3 IP, 16 K, 6 BB) was lights-out in Game 1, when he allowed just four hits and one run in six innings. Another stellar night from Cole could help the Yankees send the series back to Los Angeles. Jack Flaherty got the ball for L.A. in this one but exited early after surrendering four runs while getting just four outs.
A Dodgers win in Game 5 would deliver an eighth World Series title for the franchise, while a Yankees win — which would come without the two fans who were banned after Game 4’s incident with Mookie Betts — would mean a Game 6 on Friday in Los Angeles.
How to watch Dodgers vs. Yankees, World Series Game 5 (LAD leads 3-1)
Time: 8:08 p.m. ET
Location: Yankee Stadium | New York
TV Channel: Fox
Streaming: Fox Sports App, Fubo
Live63 updates
Volpe grounds out on a full count toe end the sixth. Here comes the Dodgers’ top of the order, with Gerrit Cole still out there. Quite a show of trust in a pitcher who’s been great tonight without the score to show for it.
Graterol walks Anthony Rizzo, and in comes Blake Treinen to face Anthony Volpe with two on and two out.
Yankees 6, Dodgers 5
The Yankees take the lead back on a Giancarlo Stanton sacrifice fly. Jazz Chisholm Jr. nearly wiped it out by tagging up to take second. He beat Stanton there but fortunately the throw as well.
And now Judge walks…
Yankees threatening to break their self-imposed tie in the bottom of the sixth. Blake Treinen is warming up.
Juan Soto leads off the sixth against Graterol with a walk. That’s how the Dodgers’ trouble started in the first, and here comes Aaron Judge.
Gerrit Cole throws a 1-2-3 sixth ,and you figure that has to do it for him at 98 pitches. He did his job, getting seven innings’ worth of outs in six innings (and wasn’t helped by his own mistake).
In comes Brusdar Graterol in what is now a battle of the bullpens. And speaking of, the Dodgers’ likely Game 7 starter just walked to the bullpen.
Stress for Vesia in 5th
Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia gets himself in and out of trouble there in the fifth. After briskly recording the first two outs, the lefty surrendered a hit to the suddenly hot Anthony Volpe. Vesia then gave free passes to the Yankees’ eight and nine hitters, plunking Austin Wells and walking Alex Verdugo.
That flipped the order, bringing right-handed leadoff man Gleyber Torres to the plate, a potentially horrifying matchup for Vesia. But the Dodgers hurler rediscovered the zone and got Torres to fly out to the track in right. Disaster averted.
Torres flies out, and this is still a tie game. Looks like Gerrit Cole is staying in after that 38-pitch disaster inning (in which all five runs were unearned).
Vesia then walks Alex Verdugo, and he will face Gleyber Torres with the bases loaded and two outs. Brusdar Graterol just started warming, but too late to face the right-handed Torres.
Alex Vesia got two outs, but an Anthony Volpe single and Austin Wells HBP give the Yankees two runners. Wells is being looked at by a trainer after taking a 94 mph pitch to the arm.
Let’s recap that fifth inning
–– Kiké Hernández sinlge –– Judge drops Edman’s line drive –– Volpe spikes a throw to third –– Lux/Ohtani strikeouts –– Gerrit Cole doesn’t cover first; run scores –– Freeman 2-run single –– Teoscar Hernández 2-run double
The inning mercifully ends for Gerrit Cole and the Yankees. He entered the fifth with a no-hitter going on 49 pitches. Then: single, reach on error, reach on error, strikeout, strikeout, single, single, double, walk, groundout. Cole is now at 87 pitches.
A torturous inning ties the game, and Yankee Stadium is stunned right now.
Catastrophe in the Bronx
OUT. OF. NOWHERE. This ball game is tied.
Sloppy, sloppy baseball from the Yankees here in the 5th inning has completely changed the trajectory of this game and, potentially, the series. The Yanks gave the Dodgers three free outs — one on a dropped fly ball to Aaron Judge, one on a poor throw from Anthony Volpe and one on a miscommunication between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo.
Defense and baserunning have been the Yankees’ bugaboos all year, and it should be zero surprise that has come back to bite them here. What a disaster for Cole and the Yanks.
Gerrit Cole’s 84th pitch just walked Max Muncy, and Tommy Kahnle is warming.
Dodgers 5, Yankees 5
WE HAVE A TIE GAME.
Teoscar Hernandez hits a two-run double and this is an absolute disaster for the Yankees. Practice your defense, kids.
Yankees 5, Dodgers 3
It wasn’t a grand slam, but Freddie Freeman makes the Yankees pay for their mistakes with a two-run single. The Dodgers have life.
Yankees 5, Dodgers 1
What? Mookie Betts hits an easy grounder to first and … Gerrit Cole doesn’t cover first. Betts beats Anthony Rizzo to first base easily, and that’s a run for the Dodgers, who now have Freddie Freeman up with the bases loaded.
Remember that picture of Cole as a kid with his Yankees sign? That’s when he should have learned that play.
Shohei Ohtani strikes out with three ugly swings on four pitches. He’s 2-for-18 in the World Series and is still not looking right.
Gavin Lux strikes out on a 99 mph fastball. One down for the Yankees, with the top of the Dodgers order coming up.
And another defensive misplay by the Yankees. Will Smith hits a grounder to short, and Anthony Volpe bounces the throw to third.
Bases loaded, no outs for the Dodgers. Hard to understate how important this is for them.
Aaron Judge had an easy catch off the bat of Tommy Edman but lost it. The Dodgers now have two on and no outs — their first real life of the game so far.
The Dodgers have a hit! Kiké Hernández laces a line drive to right field, and there won’t be another Don Larsen tonight.
Kopech throws a scoreless fourth, but even that was dicey at times (Aaron Judge came a few feet short of his second homer). To the fifth we go, with Gerrit Cole still hitless.
The Dodgers deploy one of their top arms in Michael Kopech for the fourth inning. Again, with a day off for their best arms yesterday and a day off tomorrow, they’re probably going to stick with their pregame plan unless this thing gets extra silly.
Judge showing off
Following a leadoff walk from Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman smashed a curveball from Gerrit Cole to deep left-center field, but Aaron Judge ranged back and made a leaping catch before crashing into the wall, robbing Freeman of extra bases and giving the soon-to-be AL MVP a signature defensive moment to go with his big home run earlier in the game.
The Dodgers offense hasn’t been its dominant self this series, and it’s now looking pretty barren.
Max Muncy is now 0-for-14 in the World Series with nine strikeouts.
The Dodgers are 0-for-their-last-27 since Shohei Ohtani’s single in the fifth inning of Game 4.
Max Muncy flies out to end the inning, and Gerrit Cole is hitless through four on 49 pitches. How good this start ends up being might be the only drama left tonight.
Freddie Freeman nearly had a seventh straight World Series game with a homer, but it was just short enough for Aaron Judge to make a great jumping catch.
Brasier gets through the third with no further trouble, but the hole keeps getting bigger for the Dodgers.
Stanton still locked in
Ryan Brasier entered for the 3rd inning and was immediately greeted by Giancarlo Stanton with a rocket out to right field for Stanton’s SEVENTH homer this postseason.
It’s a franchise record for home runs by a Yankee in a single postseason.
Yankees 5, Dodgers 0
Ryan Brasier takes over for the Dodgers in the third inning, and Giancarlo Stanton welcomes him with a first-pitch homer to right, narrated on the Fox broadcast by Aaron Boone.
Los Angeles fans can probably start preparing for Friday.
Gerrit Cole is cruising
A 2-out walk to Gavin Lux to turn the lineup over prompted a brief moment of concern for the Yankees, as Shohei Ohtani strode to the plate for the Dodgers, but Gerrit Cole is in full command right now.
He quickly retired Ohtani with an excellent changeup on which Ohtani flew out softly to left field. Cole has not allowed a hit through his first three innings of work.
And that knocks Ohtani down to 2-for-17 in the World Series. That shoulder might be bothering him more than the Dodgers have let on.
Shohei Ohtani flies out and Gerrit Cole is through three hitless innings at only 34 pitches. We could be seeing a special start here at Yankee Stadium.
Let’s have some fun with hindsight. There might be some criticism toward the Dodgers for going with a bullpen game when they had a chance to end this thing last night. That would be misguided (they really didn’t have any options, and Landon Knack, effectively their No. 4 starter, threw four innings anyway).
The mistake might have been in the arms they decided to use, as they could have replaced Daniel Hudson before Anthony Volpe’s game-turning grand slam. They didn’t use a high-leverage arm in a game they trailed by only one run in the sixth, and that might be something to regret if this series keeps going the way it has.
Chisholm grounds out to first on a very close play, and it remains four runs for the Yankees through two.
And Banda walks Judge. It’ll be Jazz Chisholm Jr. with the bases loaded and two outs. This Yankees team looks very different.
Anthony Banda walks Juan Soto (again), and here comes Aaron Judge (again), with a man on second after Alex Verdugo reached second on a wild pitch. Nothing is going the Dodgers’ way so far.
Short night for Flaherty
Jack Flaherty’s night is done, dusted, over. The Dodgers starter, who looked so fabulous in Game 1 of this World Series, heads to the showers having allowed four runs while recording just four outs.
His fastball velocity wasn’t down — which is what happened in his poor NLCS Game 5 start — but the command was all over the place. Los Angeles will have to come back from down 4 runs and piece together 23 more outs from their bullpen if they want to pop bottles tonight.
Yankees 4, Dodgers 0
Alex Verdugo drives in Anthony Volpe, and it’s all Yankees so far tonight. Anthony Banda is coming in for Jack Flaherty after 1 1/3 innings.
Aaron Judge is alive
That sound you just heard was Yankee Stadium exhaling and exalting; Aaron Judge has homered in the World Series.
The Yankees captain had been mired in a brutal slump, entering Game 4 with just 2 hits (a single and a double) in 15 Fall Classic at-bats. But the man who cranked 58 big flies this regular season took the first pitch he saw from Dodgers hurler Jack Flaherty — a 94 mph fastball right down Broadway — and put it in the right-field seats.
The Yankees still have a daunting task ahead of them, but getting Judge hot again would make it a lot more manageable.
Game 4 hero Anthony Volpe leads off with a double off Jack Flaherty, who once again is not looking sharp in Game 5 after shutting down a New York team in Game 1 of a series.
Per @ESPNStatsInfo: This is the first time since Game 5 of the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers that the Yankees hit back-to-back HR’s in the World Series.
And another 1-2-3 inning for Cole, who is at 19 pitches through two innings. An ideal start for the Yankees.
Jazz finally heating up?
Jazz Chisholm Jr. had just 1 RBI this postseason before that solo homer to go back-to-back with Aaron Judge and send the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy. That was his HR way back in Game 2 of the ALDS against Kansas City.
Jazz has started to hit balls harder over the past few games, but it would be huge for New York if he can heat up more substantially as this series progresses, especially if he remains in the cleanup spot.
Jack Flaherty gets out of the inning with plenty of damage done. The Dodgers’ offense can score three runs in eight innings, but it’s going to be an uphill battle against Cole and the Yankees’ bullpen.
Jack Flaherty could have located the two home run balls better.
The question now is if anything has changed with the Dodgers’ pitching plans. They were set up to deploy nearly all their late-inning arms behind Jack Flaherty to help close this thing out, and they might still do so with a (very long) day off tomorrow should they not come back.
Anthony Banda is currently warming in the bullpen.
So in conclusion, yes, Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. punished a Juan Soto walk.
Yankees 3, Dodgers 0
Jazz Chisholm Jr. goes back-to-back with Judge, and Yankee Stadium is officially rocking. With Gerrit Cole on the mound, New York is probably feeling pretty good about becoming the first team to force a Game 6 after falling behind 3-0 in the World Series.
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