Adrian Medina
Game 65, 6/7/2024: Dodgers 2, Yankees 1
BRONX, NY — Round one of this Clash of the Titans series had it all: a World Series-esque atmosphere in June, dominant pitching performances, clutch defensive plays, and hard-fought baseball through and through. That was to be expected in this series, but to put the cherry on top, Game One of this highly anticipated June series went into extra innings, highlighted by the masterclass performance thrown by Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That set up late-night heroics from Teoscar Hernandez, who smacked a tie-breaking double in the 11th inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Neither the Dodgers nor the Yankees could muster up anything offensively for the first ten innings. A few hard-hit balls that only traveled to the warning track for both teams resulted in a few close-calls on near home run balls, but hits were hard to come by. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up some hard contact in the first inning. Anthony Volpe hit a smash to left that required Teoscar to run into the fence to snare the ball. Then, one hitter later Aaron Judge ripped a double into the corner. It looked like the Yanks might be timing up Yamamoto pretty well.
However, beyond that first inning, the Bombers barely touched the Japanese righty. So dominant was his performance that Dave Roberts left him in for the seventh inning, something he’s not done a lot of here in the United States. He gave up a walk, but thanks to a double play ball, he worked his way out of it, and walked off the mound with the shutout intact. Truly a dominant performance against the best team in baseball. His line for the night: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 Ks.
The biggest threat the Yanks would mount came against the bullpen. In the eighth, reliever Anthony Banda gave up back-to-back singles with two outs with the heart of the Yankee lineup headed for the plate. Blake Treinen and his 0.00 ERA were called on to put out the New York fire. After an epic ten-pitch battle with Aaron Judge ended with a walk, the ever-dangerous Giancarlo Stanton dug into the batter’s box.
Treinen started off Stanton with a perfect slider for strike one. Then, Treinen went inside with a sinker that was off the plate, but about belt-high. Stanton put his A-swing on it and WHACK! the ball sailed off his bat toward left center. Everyone at the stadium and at home thought that ball was a goner, but it landed safely in the glove of Teoscar Hernadez, well shy of the warning track. And Dodger fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.
Both teams went down in order in the ninth, and on to extra frames we went. In the top of the tenth, the Dodgers were unable to push their ghost runner across, with Andy Pages cut down at third on a grounder to short. In the bottom of the tenth, Michael Grove was efficient and ruthless, gettting the Yanks down in order and sending the game to the eleventh.
The Dodgers were 0-12 with men on base heading into the 11th inning. With Shohei Ohtani the ghost runner at second, Freddie Freeman drew a lead-off walk to put men and first and second. But a Will Smith flyout to shallow center was unable to advance either runner. Then, Teoscar Hernández came up riding a pretty hot hand, having hit .293 in the last fifteen games. Yanks righty Ian Hamilton got ahead of him 0-2, but Hernandez buckled down at the plate. He fouled off a nasty slider before he got the pitch he wanted. On Hamilton’s next pitch, Hernandez got a slider in the meaty part of the plate. He pounced, finally pushing the first pair of runs on the board for LA as he cracked a go-ahead double in the left-center gap. These two steaks made him the RBI leader for the Dodgers with 41 so far this season.
Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts handed the ball to Yohan Ramirez in the bottom of the 11th to get the last three outs. It wasn’t surprising that Evan Phillips wasn’t in the game, as he maxed out his pitch count on Thursday in Pittsburgh, but it came as a bit of a surprise that Ramirez, a mid-season pickup who looked to be on the verge of a DFA a couple of weeks ago in Cincinnati, would be thrown into the pressure cooker. He started off the inning right, with a strikeout of old friend Alex Verdugo. But then, a scare after Aaron Judge singled in New York’s first run of the ballgame with one out. With Stanton up at the plate, Ramirez delivered a clutch fastball that froze him in the corner to get the second out. Rizzo then popped up to Will Smith to secure the thriller win for Los Angeles.
After this contest, it is very evident that this weekend’s set of games is going to be must-watch baseball, and the fun is just getting started. Game 2 is tomorrow at 4:35 PM PT, and it’s going to be the consistent arm of Gavin Stone on the mound for the Dodgers, while Nasty Nestor Cortes will be on the bump for the Yankees. What a win, Dodgers fans! Let’s get this series win tomorrow!
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