Adrian Medina
Game 67, 6/9/24: Dodgers 4, Yankees 6
BRONX, NY — Round Three of this primetime matchup ended up being a bit of a letdown. After coming from behind to tie, and then to pull ahead of the Yankees, the Dodgers gave up two late homers that put the Bombers back in the lead, as LA fell to New York 3-1.
This game was billed as a matchup between two the game’s best starters: Tyler Glasnow for the Dodgers and rookie phenom Luis Gil for the Yankees. Both pitchers did well, but neither pitched their best baseball.
For the first time in this series, it was New York who scored first. The Yanks picked up the first pair of runs in the third as Oswaldo Cabrera homered over the short porch of right field on a first-pitch fastball off Glasnow. The homer would have been out of only four other big league ballparks, so it was a bit of a cheapie to start the scoring. Then, with two outs in the same inning, Alex Verdugo and Aaron Judge would hit back-to-back doubles to plate the second run of the game. The Judge hit backed centerfielder Andy Pages to the wall, but the ball popped out of his glove at the last second and Verdugo scampered home easily.
The fifth inning saw the Dodgers break through as Andy Pages and Gavin Lux came up and delivered back-to-back one-out hits to put runners at first and third. After a Kike Hernandez strikeout, Lux stole second when Yankees catcher Jose Trevino decided not to throw through. That gave Mookie Betts a prime opportunity. And, showing a bit of life, Betts came through big time. He drilled a two-run double into the corner in left field. The score was now tied at two apiece and we had ourselves a new ball game at the midway point.
The Dodgers were thinking sweep in the top of the sixth when Teoscar Hernández struck for a third straight day, just terrorizing the Yankees. Hernandez hit a solo shot off Gil to put the Dodgers on top by one. His 16th home run of the year, Hernández has been on a roll since arriving in New York; for the series, he went 6-for-12 with three home runs and nine RBI. Without him, this would have been a completely different weekend.
The Yankees’ bottom of the sixth was truly an uppercut cut blow that staggered the Dodgers. Verdugo and Judge had back-to-back infield singles and a wild pitch advanced Verdugo to third. Glasnow struck out Giancarlo Stanton and he was headed into the “soft” part of the New York batting order with the old Padre foe Trent Grisham coming up to the plate. With Grisham having a horrible season, batting under .100 as he dug in, it wasn’t surprising that the Yankee faithful broke out in chants of “We want Soto! We want Soto!” in a reference to the slugger Juan Soto, who sat the entire series out with forearm trouble.
Much to the chagrin of Yankee fans, manager Aaron Boone did not pull the trigger on the move. Instead, he put his faith in his struggling outfielder and was rewarded handsomely. Grisham smacked a fastball right down Broadway that traveled 394 feet to give the Yankees a much-needed jolt of adrenaline. 5-3 New York. It wasn’t quite “Bucky F’N Dent,” but it was close. That pretty much ended Glasnow’s night. He recorded the final outs in the inning, but the damage had been done. His final line for the night: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 12 K.
The 8th inning saw the Dodgers with some sort of life still in them. A leadoff double by Shohei Ohtani and a productive groundout by Freddie Freeman set the stage for Will Smith to hit a sac fly to right. Ohtani raced against Aaron Judge’s throw to the plate and just beat it to score a run, which cut the Yanks’ lead to one.
Unfortunately, court wasn’t adjourned just yet as Aaron Judge delivered the final blow to LA when he launched his league-leading 24th home run in the bottom of the eighth. A monstrous 434-foot shot that sucked the life out of the Dodgers.
After Yankees closer Clay Holmes got two quick outs in the top of the ninth, things looked pretty bleak. But the Boys in Blue weren’t going down without a fight. Gavin Lux would come through in his at-bat with a single (his third knock of the night) and Kike Hernandez would follow with a single up the middle. It was all up to Mookie Betts representing the go-ahead run to deliver a clutch at-bat any way he could. Sadly, it wasn’t Mookie’s night to be a hero. He ended up striking out swinging on a slider off the plate to end the game.
Tough loss tonight. There was momentum bubbling up from time to time, but nothing doing on the Dodgers’ side. LA couldn’t come away with the sweep, but nonetheless, it was an exciting weekend of baseball, and the Dodgers secured the series win overall. The Dodgers have a Monday off-day before returning home to welcome the Rangers for three games starting Tuesday at 7:10 PM PDT. Take the day off Dodgers fans! See you at Chavez Ravine next week!
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