YANKEES AVOID SWEEP BY DODGERS

This past weekend the Yankees had a 3 game series in LA against the Dodgers. The first time playing against them since the World Series.

 

The starting pitchers were Max Fried, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. One would think that Fried would have been the best pitcher of the series, but you would be wrong. That designation goes to Ryan Yarbrough. 

 

Friday night, the game started out exciting. Aaron Judge hit a home run in his first at bat and Shohei Ohtani answered with a home run at his first at bat. The next inning Austin Wells hit a lead off home run and Trent Grisham hit a 2 run home run. The Dodgers answered by adding one more run. Tommy Edman hit a double and scored on a groundout. In the third inning Paul Goldschmidt hit a lead off home run. That’s 4 home runs for the Yankees in 3 innings. Things were looking good as the Yankees lead the game by 3 runs. However Fried began to unravel in the sixth inning and ended up having his worst game of the season. Ohtani hit his second home run of the game and then Fried allowed another run and left two men on base when Jonathan Loaisiga and Tim Hill came in to try help Fried get out of a jam but 2 more runs scored putting the Dodgers up by 1. Yerry De Los Santos came in to pitch the eighth inning and gave up 2 more runs. The Dodgers bullpen held the Yankees to 3 hits in 3 innings and the Dodgers won the first game 5-8. Fried earned his first loss of the season, giving up 6 runs in 5 innings. 

 

Saturday night’s game was worse for the Yankees as a Yankee fan it was tough to watch. If you didn’t follow what happened, this will set the tone, Will Warren pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up 7 runs. Warren loaded the bases in the first inning and the Dodgers scored 4 runs. Max Muncy hit a 3 run home run the next inning, Tommy Edman hit a RBI double and Hyeseong Kim hit a 2 run home run. The Dodgers were now winning 10-0 in the second inning. Aaron Judge hit a home run in the fourth inning finally putting the Yankees on the scoreboard. He hit another home run in the eighth inning scoring the Yankees lone 2 runs of the game. Meanwhile, prior to that Freddy Freeman hit a RBI double and Muncy hit a 3 run home run, his second home run of the game, and Andy Pages hit a solo home run. Also in the eighth inning, Dalton Rushing, pinch hitting for Ohtani, hit a 3 run home run. The Dodgers won 2-18. The Dodgers held the Yankees to 7 hits and 2 runs while the Dodgers had 21 hits and 18 runs off 8 Yankees pitchers. Muncy was 3-6 with 7 RBIs. 

 

Fun fact from this game, Judge and Ohtani were the first reigning MVPs to both hit home runs in the first inning of a game. 

 

Sunday afternoon the Yankees avoided the sweep with Ryan Yarbrough on the mound. As I said earlier he was the best Yankees pitcher of the series. He pitched 6 innings, gave up 1 run on 4 hits and struck out 5. Pitching for the Dodgers was Yoshinobu Yamamoto who has been pitching well this season but struggled against the Yankees giving up 4 runs in 3 2/3 innings. The Yankees went up 1-0 in the first inning off a RBI single by Jasson Dominguez. Tommy Edman hit a home run in the second inning to tie the game. In the third inning Ben Rice hit a two run home run and Anthony Volpe scored on a wild pitch putting the Yankees up by 3. With 2 walks and 2 singles in the fifth inning the Yankees scored 2 more runs. The Dodgers tried to rally in the seventh inning with a pair of home runs by Andy Page and Max Muncy off Jonathan Loaisiga but Devin Williams and Tim Hill kept the Dodgers to no hits in the eighth and ninth innings. DJ LeMahieu hit a RBI double in the ninth inning and the Yankees won 7-3 and avoided the sweep. 

 

Fun facts from this game, Judge and Ohtani were both 0-4. This is the fourth time the Yankees have avoided a sweep this season. It was also the first time this season, the Dodgers top 4 hitters: Ohtani, T. Hernandez, Freeman and Smith were hitless. 

 

The Yankees will now head back to NY for a 3 game series against the Cleveland Guardians and a 3 game series against the Boston Red Sox. Lets root for the Yankees to sweep both.