The Dodgers stopped a late Yankee comeback attempt Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series, but saw their star Shohei Ohtani get injured in the process.
Los Angeles won 4-2 to take a 2-0 series lead after a nervy final inning in which the visitors loaded the bases.
Alex Vesia was able to finish the game off after Blake Treinen gave up an RBI to Giancarlo Stanton and hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch, but the biggest concern now will be Ohtani’s health after the Japanese superstar suffered a shoulder injury.
Ohtani left the game in the bottom of the seventh inning after attempting to steal second base and being tagged out.
He walked away with the help of a trainer and winced in pain as he left the field.
Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night and the Dodgers won again
But Shohei Ohtani was injured trying to steal second base in the bottom of the seventh inning.
It remains to be seen whether or not he will be available for Game 3, which will be Monday in New York.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called the injury a left shoulder subluxation, which is a partial dislocation.
LA scored all four of their runs on home runs, while Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman went deep.
New York, before its final push, was kept quiet by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, other than Juan Soto hitting a game-tying solo home run in the top of the third inning.
Yamamoto allowed just one hit in 6 1/3 innings and retired his last 11 batters and 15 of his last 16 after Soto’s home run.
Soto also singled in the ninth and scored on Stanton’s one-out hit from the third base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and Rizzo was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia relieved.
Forty-five of the 56 teams that had a 2-0 lead in the World Series won the title.
New York’s Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and is hitting .150 with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats.
Freeman, meanwhile, has homered in four consecutive Series games dating to Atlanta’s final two games against Houston in 2021. That’s one shy of the record held by the Astros’ George Springer.
Aaron Judge reacts after striking out against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a great outing for the Dodgers as he allowed just one hit.
All three of the Dodgers’ home runs came on fastballs from Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, whose 31 home runs allowed during the regular season tied for second in the major leagues.
Los Angeles had consecutive home runs in the Series for the second time, after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager hit off Yankees left-hander Ron Guidry for a 2-1 victory in Game 5 in 1981.
Rodón allowed four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Los Angeles took a 2-0 series lead for the first time since 1988, when Kirk Gibson’s home run off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout.
The Yankees are 0-2 for the first time since 2001, when they rallied to win three straight at home and lost Games 6 and 7 in Arizona.