NEW YORK — On Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before a season-saving 11-4 victory in Game 4 of the World Series, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone sounded a prophetic note about shortstop Anthony Volpe.
“I feel like we’re going to look up in a couple of years and see a really, really strong offensive player,” Boone said. “It doesn’t always happen in a meteoric rise for some people. But I feel like he’s moving the needle in a really good way.”
Boone serves as a font of optimism about his team. The words might have felt hollow at 5 p.m. They took on a different hue in Tuesday’s third inning, when Volpe hit a grand slam, the biggest hit of his career and the clearest hint of a brighter future. Volpe gave the Yankees a lead in this series for the first time since Game 1. From there, the bullpen hung tough and held off the Dodgers long enough to force Game 5 on Wednesday in the Bronx. The Yankees became only the fourth team in baseball history and the first since 1970 to avoid a sweep in the World Series when down, 3-0. No team facing a 3-0 deficit has ever forced Game 6.
The contest on Wednesday will be a rematch of starters from Game 1, when Yankees ace Gerrit Cole dueled with Dodgers midseason acquisition Jack Flaherty in an instant classic at Dodger Stadium. The opener took 10 innings to settle. From there, the Dodgers appeared on the verge of the sweep, before Volpe took Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson deep. During the rest of the evening, the crowd serenaded Volpe, a New Jersey boy who grew up rooting for the Yankees and idolizing Derek Jeter, thrilled that the summer was not yet over.
For the first time in the Fall Classic, the Yankees responded when wounded by the Dodgers. Volpe’s slam followed yet another first-inning home run from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. After the Dodgers trimmed the Yankees’ lead to one, rookie catcher Austin Wells launched a solo shot to open the sixth inning and provide the bullpen more room to breathe. Volpe and Wells executed a double steal in the eighth and both scored, the latter on a three-run homer by second baseman Gleyber Torres that eased the edginess. The Yankees pilloried Dodgers mop-up man Brent Honeywell for five runs in the eighth, including an RBI single from slumping slugger Aaron Judge, who is hitting .133 for the series.
THE @YANKEES HAVE PUT UP 10 RUNS IN #WORLDSERIES GAME 4! pic.twitter.com/qfkORDE5NX
— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2024
The Dodgers opened the night in punt formation. Before the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts discussed the importance of length from two rookie pitchers, Ben Casparius and Landon Knack. Casparius was pitching in his seventh big-league game, with four appearances this October. Knack made 12 starts during the regular season but got walloped by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.
The rookies inherited a lead. For the second night in a row, Freeman supplied a two-run homer in the first inning. He lifted a slider from Yankees starter Luis Gil into the right-field porch in a replay of his Game 3 opening strike.
The Yankees overcame a mistake on the bases by Volpe to scratch together a run in the second. After Volpe walked and stole second, he hugged the base when Wells smoked a fastball off the center-field wall. Volpe could only advance to third base. He was still able to score when outfielder Alex Verdugo hit a soft grounder to the right side, which cut the deficit to one.
For the third, Roberts replaced Casparius with the veteran reliever Hudson. The Dodgers prefer to use Hudson in lower-leverage situations. He soon demonstrated why. Hudson drilled Judge with a 95 mph fastball. Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. smoked a single. Hudson walked designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton on six pitches. After a harmless pop-up from first baseman Anthony Rizzo, Volpe stepped in with two outs and the bases loaded.
All at once, Volpe represented an organizational triumph for the Yankees and something of a disappointment. He was considered one of baseball’s best prospects before he debuted last season at 21. He won a Gold Glove in the field but failed to provide much pop with his bat. In his second season, he was not much more prolific. His OPS sank a few points, to .657.
Volpe had not homered since Sept. 21. He went 1-for-12 in the first three games of this series. He still came up ready to hit. When Hudson pumped a first-pitch slider, Volpe pulled the baseball just beyond the left-field porch for only the second grand slam of his career.
The Dodgers would not let the Yankees off easy. Gil yielded a leadoff homer to catcher Will Smith in the fifth. He walked his final batter before ceding the stage to funky southpaw Tim Hill. The Dodgers plated a second run in the inning after Shohei Ohtani singled and Freeman beat out a double-play ball.
Wells greeted Knack with malice in the sixth. Knack attempted to pump a 94 mph fastball at the top of the strike zone. Wells whacked the ball into the second deck of right field. Like Volpe, he was also in the midst of a slump, batting .093 for October and benched for Game 3. Back in the lineup, he supplied two of the biggest swings, bookends to Volpe’s signature blast.
(Photo of Anthony Volpe: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
