By Fabian Ardaya, Tyler Kepner, Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty
LOS ANGELES – A hobbled Los Angeles Dodger, batting left-handed, smashed a two-out, game-ending home run to right field to win the opening game of the World Series. It happened in 1988. And incredibly, it has happened again.
Freddie Freeman played Kirk Gibson this time, lashing Nestor Cortes’ first pitch over the right field fence for the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. Freeman, slowed all month by an ankle injury, gave the Dodgers a 6-3 victory in 10 stirring innings at Dodger Stadium.
IT’S GONE
IT’S GONE
IT’S GONE
IT’S GONE
FREDDIE FREEMAN #WALKOFF GRAND SLAM pic.twitter.com/LlVU1ZGyGx— MLB (@MLB) October 26, 2024
Dodgers stars came up big when they needed it
It was shaping to be a quiet night for the Dodgers’ top duo of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, despite some loud contact. Each had long, loud outs against Gerrit Cole in the first inning. Neither could bring Tommy Edman home after a leadoff double in the sixth inning.
But with the Dodgers down to their final five outs and facing a one-run deficit, their turn through the lineup rolled around once again. Ohtani waited out one of Tommy Kahnle’s changeups before one finally crossed the plate, unleashing a rope that hit the top of the well just a few feet shy of a game-tying home run, taking second after Juan Soto took his time to gather a throw and reaching all the way to third after Gleyber Torres couldn’t corral it.
Mookie Betts had hit a sharp ground ball in this previous at-bat that Jazz Chisholm Jr. snagged with the infield in, keeping the Yankees’ advantage. This time, Betts laced a line drive to center that Aaron Judge had to track back on to haul in, tying the game with a sacrifice fly.
But the biggest moment came in the bottom of the tenth, when Freddie Freeman, after the Yankees walked Betts to load the bases, launched his first pitch from Nestor Cortes to end Game 1 with a walk-off grand slam.
Cole does his job
On Thursday, Cole said it would be a “dream come true” to pitch Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, just 50 miles from where he grew up in Newport Beach.
On Friday, his reality was better than any dream. He did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do, giving up just a run over six innings. Cole worked around some trouble while striking out four, allowing four hits and walking none. He threw 88 pitches and left with a one-run lead. Cole gave up four long flies to the warning track total.
The first inning looked like trouble for Cole, who surrendered flies near the warning track to Ohtani and Betts to start the game before Freddie Freeman tripled to left field when the ball caromed off the wall and got away from Alex Verdugo. But Cole got Teoscar Hernández to pop out to escape.
Then Cole hunkered down. He retired the next 10 Dodgers he faced before allowing another triple to Kiké Hernández in the fifth inning. Will Smith made him pay with a sacrifice fly to right field in the next at-bat to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth, Cole let Tommy Edman double to start the frame, and then he moved to third base on an Ohtani groundout. But third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. snared a hard Betts grounder right at him for the second out and Freeman flew out deep to right field to end the threat.
When Soto hauled it in, Cole walked off the field without an emotion on his face, his night finished.
Dodgers had a clear gameplan against Soto
It remains a one-game sample, but it was clear how the Dodgers wanted Jack Flaherty to attack Juan Soto and tee up the heart of the Yankees order. The Yankees slugger saw 15 pitches from Flaherty, with just two being inside of the rulebook strike zone. Soto drew four straight balls for a walk in the first inning, then ran a full count and chased a slider outside for a double-play grounder before Flaherty started the sixth inning with a first-pitch fastball over the plate to Soto. Soto wound up hitting a single on a slider on the edge of the plate anyway.
Neutralizing Soto may be impossible. Keeping him from doing damage is the next closest goal. There remain two other key power bats to handle – while Flaherty struck out Aaron Judge all three times he faced him, he was one pitch shy of keeping Giancarlo Stanton off the board, too. Flaherty had Stanton in a two-strike count after a pair of sliders, then missed on a fastball for a ball before trying a two-strike curveball below the zone. Stanton golfed it out to left field, scoring himself and Soto to give the Yankees the lead.
Soto’s defense was costly
Soto is a Gold Glove Award finalist in right field, but if you’ve watched the Yankees all season, it was surprising seeing him listed. One of Soto’s main areas for improvement heading into this season was his defense. To his credit, Soto improved from where his defense stood last season with the San Diego Padres, but it can still be an adventure when the ball is hit his way. That was on display Friday night.
In the fifth inning, Soto misplayed a Kiké Hernández triple down the right-field line, which Statcast estimated had a 5 percent catch probability. Soto ran a direct line to the ball instead of letting it drop in front of him, which might have held Hernández to a double instead of a triple. Hernández’s advance to third allowed him to score on a Will Smith sacrifice fly, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead at the time.
Then, in the eighth inning, Shohei Ohtani blasted a double off the right-field wall. Soto double-clutched while playing the carom off the wall and short-hopped a throw to second base that Gleyber Torres could not scoop. Ohtani advanced to third and then scored on a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly, tying the game at 2.
For all of his offensive success, Soto’s biggest weakness remains his defense, which cost the Yankees in Game 1.
(Top photo of Freddie Freeman: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
