Recap: Dodgers survive early HR barrage and roar back to beat Yanks
Game 56, 5/30/2025: Dodgers 8, Yankees 5
CHAVEZ RAVINE — Did you have your calendars marked for this day? The much-anticipated rematch of the 2024 World Series finally arrived at Dodger Stadium. And the joint was rocking. Home run balls were flying out early, but the Dodgers finally got to ace Max Fried in the sixth inning and roared back to take Game One of this interleague series by a score of 8-5
Top of the first
After getting a weak contact ground out for the first out of the ball game, starter Tony Gonsolin served up a meatball to Aaron Judge and watched him launch it deep over the center field wall. The Yankees put two more runners on base, but Gonsolin was able to escape with no further damage. Yankees 1 Dodgers 0
Bottom of the first
Not to be outdone by Aaron Judge in his own ballpark, Shohei Ohtani played a little tit-for-tat when he took Southern California native Max Fried’s first pitch deep over the left center field wall. Fried tried to open up with a sinker on the inside part of the plate to get ahead in the count, but Shohei made sure it was a very short at-bat. He drilled the lefty’s pitch 415 feet for his 21st home run of the year. It wasn’t as majestic as Judge’s blast, but it counted the same in the scorebook. Sadly, the fireworks of that first pitch could not be sustained, and the Dodgers ended the bottom of the first with the score tied. Dodgers 1 Yankees 1
Top of the second
The Yankees got back on top, taking Gonsolin deep two different times in the second. Austin Wells hit a solo shot and Trent Grisham crushed the ball over the left wall for a two-run jack, thus adding three more runs with only two innings played. Yankees 4 Dodgers 1
Bottom of the second
Tommy Edman led it of for the Dodgers by hitting a line drive down the left field line for a double. Edman moved to third when Fried was called for a balk. The miscue would prove costly to Fried, as Kiké Hernandez hit a bounding groundball out down the third base line that scored Edman, bringing the homeboys one run closer. Dodgers 2 Yankees 4
Top of the third
Gonsolin continued to serve up tasty morsels to the Yankees as Paul Goldschmidt hit a leadoff solo shot into the right field seats. Fortunately, the Yankees only scored one run, as Gonsolin got bailed out by a nifty around-the-horn double play turned by Kiké, Tommy, and Freddie. Then, after a walk and an HBP put more traffic on the bases, Gonsolin struck out Oswald Peraza on a beautifully placed splitter. Yankees 5 Dodgers 2
Bottom of the sixth
After a quiet fourth and fifth inning, Shohei Ohtani came up to bat to lead off the sixth, and one-upped number 99 in the visitors’ dugout when he launched one into the right field seats that just cleared Judge’s outstretched glove by a few feet. The blast gave the Dodgers a much-needed lift. The team then got back-to-back singles from Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith with no outs and runners on first and second.
Then, Freddie Freeman took the magic potion from 2024 and hit an opposite field RBI double, scoring Hernandez and bringing the Dodgers within one with still no outs and two runners in scoring position. Andy Pages tied the game up with single throgh the drawn-in infield, scoring Will Smith. The Dodgers then took the lead after reliever Tim Hill walked Michael Conforto with the bases loaded. Dodgers 6 Yankees 5
Bottom of the seventh
The Dodgers extended their lead with a nice two-out rally in the bottom of the eighth. Will Smith got on base with a single and Freeman’s drive double down the left field line put two runners in scoring position for Andy Pages. Different inning. Different pitcher. Same result: Pages drove the first pitch through the infield (to center this time) for a two-run RBI single. Dodgers 8 Yankees 5
Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius did a nice job in relief of Gonsolin and got the game into the eighth, but with two out and two on, Doc went to the bullpen to get Tanner Scott to pitch to DJ LeMahieu. Two pitches later the inning was over. Way to go, Tanner, I guess.
Then came the ninth. After the Dodgers failed to score, Dave Roberts was faced with a decision. Does he let Tanner Scott out there for another up-down? The answer this time was no, Roberts having learned the lesson from Cleveland. Instead Alex Vesia came on to finish off the game. It wasn’t exactly stress-free–both Judge and Belli flew out on some rather meaty pitches–but Vesia managed to bring the ship into port with no damage. A thrilling win for the sell-out crowd who came to see these two titans slug it out.
What a comeback by the Dodgers, as they take Game One of the three-game series. Tomorrow’s game will start at 4:15 PM PDT, with–God help us–Landon Knack on the mound. Sleep well, Dodgers Fans…
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