New York (AFP) – Anthony Volpe smashed a grand slam as the New York Yankees avoided being swept in the World Series on Tuesday with an 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Volpe’s third-inning blast gave the Yankees a 5-2 edge, their first lead since game one, and later homers by Gleyber Torres and Austin Wells sparked New York’s rout.
“The win has hit me. Nothing else has hit me yet. It was great,” Volpe said. “I was trying to get on time for a heater, see the ball and be easy. I didn’t know I made it and then I blacked out.” The Yankees pulled within 3-1 in the best-of-seven Major League Baseball championship showdown with game five on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
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“We showed what we’re capable of doing as a team,” Torres said. “We’ll just try to continue that. Go tomorrow like there’s no tomorrow.” No team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series, but the Yankees became the first team in 54 years to force a fifth game when down 0-3.
“It’s going to take a lot,” Wells said of the Yankees making a miracle fightback. “A lot of what happened today, a lot of good (at-bats), a lot of moving the lineup over (on the bases), just trying to get through their pitching staff.” New York denied the Dodgers an eighth World Series title and first since 2020 while keeping alive hopes of the Yankees winning their first crown since 2009 and 28th overall.
Wells, 25, became the youngest Yankees catcher to homer in the World Series after going 4-for-43 in the playoffs before his 2-for-3 night. “I just said screw it, we’re down three and just went out there,” Wells said. “I just blacked out. I don’t really know what I did.”
It was a record-shattering night for Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman, who smashed a two-run homer in the first inning to become the first player with homers in the first four games of a World Series. Freeman, who blasted a walk-off grand slam to win game one, also moved past George Springer to set a record with homers in six consecutive World Series contests, counting the last two games from his 2021 title run with Atlanta.
Mookie Betts doubled in the first inning and scored on Freeman’s homer, then made a great grab for an out later in the first. The Dodgers’ rightfielder made a leaping catch by the wall in foul territory despite a Yankees fan trying to pull the ball out of his glove. New York answered in the second when Volpe walked, stole second base, took third on a Wells double, and scored on Alex Verdugo’s ground out.
The game turned in the third as Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a woeful 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in the Series, was hit by a pitch and reached third on Jazz Chisholm’s single. Giancarlo Stanton walked to load the bases for Volpe, who blasted his grand slam into the centerfield stands for a 5-2 Yankees edge. It was the sixth grand slam of this year’s playoffs, an MLB record.
Will Smith bashed the Dodgers within 5-3 with a solo homer in the fifth, and Los Angeles drove in another run thanks to a video replay over-rule. Tommy Edman walked, took second on a Shohei Ohtani single, reached third when Betts hit into a fielder’s choice, and scored when Freeman hit into what was first called a double play before replay showed Freeman beat the throw to first, allowing Edman to score to make it 5-4.
But Wells answered with his homer in the sixth, and the Yankees added more insurance in the eighth when Volpe doubled, Wells walked, both advanced on stolen bases, and Volpe scored on a ground ball by Verdugo, racing home and beating the throw home from second base. Torres followed with a three-run homer to centerfield, and the Yankees stretched the lead to 10-4—the first time New York had scored 10 runs in a World Series game since 1978. Juan Soto doubled and scored on a Judge single for New York’s last run.
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