Yankees Stave Off Elimination With Game 4 Rout of Dodgers

The Yankees live to play another day, and it’s a damn good thing because the bullpenning Dodgers used mostly JV pitchers in Game 4 because they don’t have a fourth viable starter. That would have been an awful way to lose in a game like that, and lo and behold, the Yankees finally found a few guys they could handle as they erupted for 11 runs, four more than they scored in the first three games combined. Lets get to it.

Oct. 29: Yankees 11, Dodgers 4

Sometimes the moment just finds you in baseball, right? And in Game 4 Tuesday night, the moment found Anthony Volpe twice in the early stages of the Yankees’ season-extending blowout of the Dodgers.

He completely melted the first time, making the type of stupid baserunning mistake that is a hallmark of Yankees baseball. Volpe had walked and stolen second with one out in the second inning when Austin Wells actually hit the ball. Seriously, Wells, who was batting .093 in the postseason, hit the ball and he hit it far, all the way to the top of the wall in right-center, just a couple feet shy of what would have been a game-tying two-run homer.

But inexplicably, Volpe did not read it correctly and rather than going halfway between second and third - which players are taught to do in Little League - he was going back to second to tag up, assuming the ball would be would be caught.

As a result, he could only advance to third, and it also prevented Wells from getting to third with a triple. Volpe eventually scored on a ground out by Alex Verdugo, but he still cost the Yankees a run because had he scored when he was supposed to, Wells would have scored from third on Verdugo’s grounder and that would have tied the game at 2-2. You just shake your head at some of this idiotic shit because these are the things that killed the Yankees in the first three games, the simple fundamentals of baseball that the Yankees are so negligent in.

Volpe knew he’d made a big mistake, and he was fortunate that he didn’t have to wait long for his chance to make amends because his next big moment found him in the next inning. Facing the Dodgers’ second pitcher, Daniel Hudson, the Yankees loaded the bases as Aaron Judge got plunked, Jazz Chisholm singled and stole second, and Giancarlo Stanton walked to load the bases.

Anthony Rizzo popped up for the second out, and now it was on Volpe to at least get the tying run home. Instead, he got four runs home as he hit a grand slam to left to give the Yankees their first lead since the 10th inning of Game 1 at 5-2 and sending Yankee Stadium into hysterics.

“The place was shaking. I felt the ground literally shaking,” Wells said of the explosion of noise as Volpe circled the bases, one of those Bronx moments that have been happening for a century, going back to the original ballpark, the house that Ruth built.

“It’s like you finally got to see the top blow off Yankee Stadium in a World Series game,” Aaron Boone said. “When Anthony hits that ball, it was fun to see Yankee Stadium erupt.”

Volpe became the first player in MLB history to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the World Series with his team facing elimination.

And he wasn’t done. With the Yankees clinging to a 6-4 lead in the eighth, he laced a double to left off mop-up man Brent Honeywell that started the Yankees’ clinching five-run rally. After Wells walked, the two good friends who came up together in the minors, pulled off a double steal, and Volpe scored an insurance run as he got a tremendous jump on the dreaded contact play when Verdugo - on the 11th pitch of a really gritty at bat by him - grounded to first and Volpe easily beat the throw home.

Afterward, the kid who grew up in New Jersey as a huge Yankees fan was asked if he ever dreamed of hitting a grand slam in the World Series at Yankee Stadium and he said with that boyish smile of his, “Probably every night. I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence. It is pretty crazy to think about. It’s my dream, but it was all my friends’ dreams, all my cousins’ dreams, probably my sister’s dream, too. But winning the World Series was first and foremost, by far. Nothing else compares, so we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Yeah, he’s right about that. The odds of the Yankees coming back to win this are basically astronomical. Twenty-one of the previous 24 teams to take 3-0 World Series leads went on to sweeps, all but the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics against the Chicago Cubs, the 1937 Yankees against the New York Giants, and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles against the Cincinnati Reds. All three of those Series ended in five games.

No team down 3-0 has ever forced a Game 6 which is pretty incredible, but the Yankees have a chance to do it Wednesday. Gerrit Cole will oppose the Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty in a rematch of Game 1.

“The one thing about us,’’ Chisholm said, “is we love history. We love to make history. So, we’re trying to do something that’s never been done. I want my name in that history book. This shit isn’t going to be easy, but this is what we’re made for. Who doesn’t want to make history? I know I love making history. I love writing my name in the history books and being a part of it. If anyone can do it, this is the team to do it.’’

Well, I’m not so sure, but I love the confidence, and I sure hope he’s on to something.

Here are my observations:

➤ There was a lot of chatter about the Yankees not starting Cole on short rest with the season on the brink, an idea that was stupid in every way, one that both Cole and Boone shot down without a second thought in the pregame press conferences. Beyond the fact that he’s been a bit of health risk all season after he missed the first three months with an arm injury, what the hell were the Yankees going to do if Cole pitched and they won? Bring back Carlos Rodon on short rest for Game 5, and Clarke Schmidt on short rest for Game 6? No, Luis Gil was the right choice, especially with the Yankees standing a good chance to break out given the Dodgers’ pitching plan.

➤ Gil certainly wasn’t great as he could not retire a man in the fifth and allowed four runs on five hits and two walks, but again, with the Yankees’ offense finally waking up, they overcame Gil. His night started ominously when Mookie Betts doubled and trotted home on - stop me if you heard this before - a two-run homer by Freddie Freeman. Holy shit, what a week for him as he became the first player in MLB history to homer in the first four games of a World Series, and the first to homer in six straight dating back to 2021 when he helped lead the Braves to the world championship.

➤ But after throwing 27 pitches in the first, Gil settled in pretty well and put up three scoreless innings before he gave up a Will Smith homer leading off the fifth, and then walked Tommy Edman. That’s when Boone yanked him, and Tim Hill eventually allowed Edman to score as Shohei Ohtani singled him to second, Betts moved him to third with a grounder, and he crossed the plate when Freeman avoided an inning-ending DP by hustling down the line to beat the throw. That was pretty irritating because once again, a lazy, sloppy feed from Gleyber Torres made Volpe reach high for the force and that’s all it took for Freeman to beat the relay at first and that cost the Yankees a run, cutting their lead to 5-4.

➤ However, it did not matter because the Yankees bullpen was absolutely fantastic. They accumulated 15 outs without allowing a run and only two men reached base - Hill gave up the Ohtani single and Mark Leiter walked Edman in the seventh. Even mop-up man Tim Mayza worked a 1-2-3 ninth after the Yankees blew the game open with five runs in the eighth.

➤ And how about the work of Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver? Holmes chewed up and spit out the four guys he faced including strikeouts of Max Muncy and Kike Hernandez. And Weaver came into a 6-4 game with two outs in the seventh, Boone asking for a rare seven-out save because there was no tomorrow without a win, and he needed his best man. Weaver responded by mowing down Betts to end the seventh with Edman stranded at second, then blew away Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Muncy in the eighth. There was no need for him to continue, though, after the Yankees blew the game open, so now Weaver will be available Wednesday night because he threw only 21 pitches.

➤ Still up 5-4 starting the sixth, Wells crushed an upper-deck solo homer to right off Landon Knack who was the Dodgers’ bulk guy, giving them four innings in their bullpen game. It’s probably way too little, way too late for Wells because his incredibly horrendous offensive slump that dates to the start of September helped dig the Yankees into the 3-1 hole they still face, but hey, maybe he can keep it going Wednesday. “The situation we were in, I think that we just kind of needed to say, ‘Screw it’ and go after it and have fun because some guys may never come back to the World Series again,’’ Wells said. “So we were enjoying the game and I think that allowed us to play a lot looser. I feel like all the pressure just kind of went away - for me at least, personally. We were down 3-0 and I feel like the pressure is on them to win the last game.’’

➤ In the eighth, after Volpe’s dash home made it 7-4, Torres hit a three-run homer to right. “To add on and get Weaver out of the game changed everything for us and will help (Wednesday),” Rizzo said. “That was the biggest part of that home run.” Juan Soto, who had been quiet all night, followed with a double and Judge drove him home with a single which was another positive development. He went 1-for-3, but he also reached base via an error, a walk, and a hit by pitch. It’s a start for the slumping captain, but the Yankees need much bigger things from him in Game 5 and, should they win, beyond.