Ohtani outduels Judge as Dodgers drop Yankees
-
Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — The New York Yankees‘ return to Dodger Stadium, the site of a star-studded World Series and an improbable Game 1, was billed as one of this season’s most anticipated matchups. It began in unprecedented fashion, with Aaron Judge homering in the top of the first and Shohei Ohtani answering in the bottom half, marking the first time two reigning MVPs have homered in the same inning of the same game.
In the end, Ohtani prevailed.
The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ two-way phenomenon added another homer in the sixth, igniting a four-run rally against a previously dominant Max Fried and sparking an 8-5, come-from-behind victory Friday night. Ohtani has now gone deep 15 times in May, tying a franchise record for the most home runs in a single month.
“He’s impressive,” Judge said. “He’s one of the best players in the game for a reason. What he can do in the box, on the basepath, once he gets back on the mound — it’s special.”
Ohtani is expected to face hitters in live batting practice at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, his second session in a span of six days. His pitching progression has been steady in recent weeks, but he is not expected to join the Dodgers’ needy rotation until some time after the All-Star break. In the meantime, Ohtani continues to be a force offensively, slashing .294/.394/.670 with 11 stolen bases and a major-league-leading 22 home runs — three more than the second-place Judge, whose batting average sits at .392.
“I heard the chants for MVP tonight,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said of Ohtani, “and he’s really well on his way to doing that again.”
The Dodgers defeated the Yankees in five World Series games in the fall, claiming their first full-season championship in 36 years. It was a matchup of arguably the two most storied franchises, both with bloated payrolls and star-laden rosters. Seven months later, the rematch was just as decorated. Had Mookie Betts not sustained the toe fracture that is expected to keep him out for the entire weekend series, Friday’s game would have marked the first time in major league history that three former MVPs resided in each lineup for the same game.
Judge and Ohtani, though, are the clear headliners, and both played as advertised. Ohtani homered twice; Judge homered, added a double and made a sensational diving catch deep in the right-center-field gap, robbing Teoscar Hernandez of extra bases.
“Some of the stars really shone tonight,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Fried was certainly one of them. The star left-hander fashioned a 7-0 record and 1.29 ERA through his first 11 starts with the Yankees and held a 5-2 lead when he took the mound for the sixth inning.
Then the Dodgers came all the way back, drawing memories of their infamous five-run rally in Game 5 of the World Series. Ohtani started it with a towering home run to right field. Hernandez and Will Smith added back-to-back singles. Freeman, who ranks just behind Judge with a .368 batting average, added an opposite-field RBI double. Andy Pages drove in another run with a single, and Michael Conforto plated the Dodgers’ sixth with a bases-loaded walk.
The Dodgers added two more with Pages’ two-run single in the seventh, and a severely short-handed bullpen — one that lost Evan Phillips to Tommy John surgery and has four other high-leverage relievers on the injured list — held the Yankees in check the rest of the way.
Asked if it reminded him of the Dodgers’ World Series comeback of Game 5, Freeman, who delivered the walk-off grand slam in Game 1, said he “actually never thought about it.”
“That was just pretty good ballgame right there to beat Max Fried, who is probably one of the top five pitchers in the game right now,” Freeman said. “To score that many runs off him, it’s very hard to do. And a testament to Shohei, who is hitting home runs all over the place, and then just getting guys on, keeping the line moving, getting huge hits and just tacking on a couple more runs. That was awesome.”
TORONTO — Blue Jays outfielder George Springer skipped into third base on a key RBI hit by teammate Alejandro Kirk, and hopped right into an inning-ending out in the fifth on Sunday against the Athletics.
Springer was called out following a replay review after Athletics third baseman Max Schuemann alertly kept his glove on the Blue Jays right fielder while Springer hopped up and down on third base.
Springer, who had reached on an RBI single that opened the scoring for Toronto, was celebrating Kirk’s double that cut the deficit to 3-2.
The out call meant Toronto slugger Addison Barger didn’t get to bat with runners at second and third.
Schuemann had just entered the game as a defensive replacement, taking over for Miguel Andujar.
The Athletics had lost five straight and 16 of 17 entering Sunday.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Slumping Rangers slugger Adolis García was held out of Texas’ lineup for the third consecutive day Sunday, with president of baseball operations Chris Young saying the club wants the 2023 ALCS MVP to make some mechanical changes.
“We need him to kind of commit to some of these changes that we think will get him back to the ’23 version of himself and help him be the player that we know he can be,” Young said before Texas’ series finale against St. Louis.
García is hitting .155 in the past 20 games with 25 strikeouts. He is hitting .208 overall, with seven homers and a team-high 27 RBIs for a Rangers club that has struggled offensively. He ranked 14th in the majors with 122 home runs over the past four seasons.
García, who has started 55 of Texas’ 60 games in right field this season, missed only one other game before this weekend, with manager Bruce Bochy saying Friday that García was being given a mental break.
“It’s about the mental reset and coming back with more energy,” García told reporters Saturday. “I’m working on some stuff without the pressure of having to do something up there.”
García, 32, is in the final season of a two-year contract.
The anticipated return of Evan Carter to the active roster Tuesday, joining Wyatt Langford, Alejandro Osuna and Sam Haggerty, further crowds the Rangers outfield as García tries to return to the lineup.
“It’s going to be performance-driven at this point,” Young said.
Texas also made three roster moves before Sunday’s game. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (triceps fatigue) was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Thursday, catcher Tucker Barnhart was designated for assignment, and right-hander Codi Heuer was selected from Triple-A Round Rock.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway