NEW YORK — Ultimately, Terrible defense destroyed any chance the New York Yankees had of sending the World Series back to Los Angeles.
Through four innings of Game 5 on Wednesday night, it looked like the Yankees would become the first team to force a sixth game of the Fall Classic after losing the first three games.
But then the fifth inning rolled around and the elation turned to horror as the players wearing pinstripes completely forgot how to do the basics like catching, throwing and knowing where to go in certain situations. And the fundamentally sound and ruthless Dodgers took advantage, rallying to tie a game that the Yankees seemingly had well in hand.
“This will stick forever,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m devastated.”
To the Bombers’ credit, they managed to retake the lead in the sixth inning, but another defensive error cost them what would culminate in a brutal 7-6 defeat that gave the Dodgers their second world championship in five years and eighth place in the general classification. dating back to when the franchise played in Brooklyn.
“This is a very difficult moment for us,” Boone said.
Horror show of a fifth inning for the Yankees
The Yankees built a 5-0 lead in the first four frames and Yankee Stadium was electric, but they gave it all back in the fateful fifth, thanks to atrocious defense that led to the Dodgers scoring five unearned runs.
After Kiké Hernández lined a single to right for the Dodgers’ first hit of the game, Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ superstar outfielder, simply dropped Tommy Edman’s routine fly to center, setting up first and second . It was a shocking mistake for a player of Judge’s caliber and a harbinger of things to come.
“We didn’t get the job done,” Judge said. “We made some mistakes along the way that hurt us.”
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
The Dodgers’ next batter, Will Smith, hit a ground ball that Anthony Volpe fielded cleanly, but the Yankees shortstop elected to try to get the lead runner on third, which is always a risky play. His throw caught Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the bag, creating a bases loaded, no out situation.
New York starter Gerrit Cole responded by striking out Gavin Lux on a 99 mph fastball and had Shohei Ohtani swing on a knuckle curve. The veteran right-hander looked like he was going to get out when Mookie Betts hit a soft roller into the first base hole, but Cole inexplicably didn’t cover first.
The Dodgers smelled blood and quickly capitalized. Series MVP Freddie Freeman hit a two-run line drive to center and Teoscar Hernandez launched a two-run double from the left-center field wall to tie the game.
Cole ultimately escaped further damage, but the 38-pitch inning left its mark.
“You feel pretty confident with your ace up there and a five-run lead, but you know what, that’s baseball, man,” Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo said. “They played the better baseball in this World Series.”
The Series was lost for good in the eighth
With the Yankees leading 6-5 in the eighth, normally reliable reliever Tommy Kahnle came on and had nothing, giving up singles to Hernández and Edman and walking Smith on four pitches. Boone then had no choice but to try to get six outs from Luke Weaver.
But the Yankees closer gave up a sacrifice fly to Gavin Lux, tying the game. Things got worse from there as New York made another defensive mistake. On the first pitch to Ohtani, on which he committed an error, catcher Austin Wells was called for catcher interference. The Yankees disputed the call, but it was upheld. Ohtani was awarded first base, which loaded the bases again.
Betts followed with a sacrifice fly to center, keeping the Dodgers ahead.
Where do the Yankees go from here?
There will undoubtedly be some changes for the Bombers this offseason, but as the miscues in Game 5 showed, they will need to get better in the field.
During the regular season, the Yankees ranked 25th in the Majors in fielding percentage (.984). They committed 113 errors, seventh most in baseball.
In the postseason, New York committed nine errors in fourteen games, including the three doozies on Wednesday night.
