There was only one word to describe the five-run fifth inning that resurrected the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, and leave it to the man who produced the most idiosyncratic hit of the improbable rally to score it .
“Crazy!” Mookie Betts screamed, his eyes stinging from the beer and champagne poured over his head by teammates after a stunning 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees clinched the eighth championship in Dodgers history- franchise had conquered. “It was crazy how it unfolded. I mean, you have to play a clean game to beat us.”
The Yankees didn’t play a clean game Wednesday night, collecting most of their errors in a fifth inning that had to be one of the ugliest in postseason history, an inning that erased the 5-0 lead they had built after Aaron’s two-run home Judge. performed in the first inning and solo shots by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first and Giancarlo Stanton in the third.
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New York standout Gerrit Cole needed just 49 pitches to get through four hitless innings, and his defense actually saved a potential run in the fourth when Judge, with Betts aboard after a walk, rushed to the wall in left-center field to make a to score a goal. leaping catch of a Freddie Freeman drive before crashing into the wall.
But the Yankees suffered an epic defensive meltdown in the top of the fifth, committing two physical errors and one mental blunder, allowing the Dodgers to score five unearned runs and tie the score at 5-5.
“When you get extra outs and you benefit from those types of games, it’s huge,” said Freeman, who was named the series’ most valuable player after hitting .300 (six for 20) with four home runs, a triple and 12 RBIs in five games. “To level it again, you could just feel the momentum [shifting].”
Kiké Hernández, who has a career .391 average (nine for 23) with three doubles, a triple and a home run off Cole, led off the fifth with a single to right-center field, ending Cole’s no-hitter.
Tommy Edman followed with a sinking line drive to shallow center. Judge, who didn’t make an error in 158 regular-season games and 13 postseason games, raced in and had enough time to catch what looked like a routine fly ball.
But Judge appeared to peek at the runner at the last moment and missed him, with the ball rattling out of his glove and kicking to right. Judge recovered and made a strong throw to second, but Hernández beat the throw – barely – with an aggressive foot-first slide.
“They always say things, even in baseball,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “I never believed that, but I don’t know, man… that guy makes an incredible catch, and then he misses one. So maybe things will turn out fine.”
The error resulted in two on’s with no outs for Will Smith, who hooked a grounder to the short stop hole that Anthony Volpe neatly set up. But the Yankees shortstop forced a throw to third base in an attempt to force the lead runner, an error that loaded the bases with no outs.
“I know they fouled Volpe on that play, but when you slow it down and you see Kiké running to third base, that’s what prompted that play,” Freeman said of Hernández, who turned slightly toward turned right towards Volpe. pitch as he approached third. “That’s him who has an incredible IQ right there.”
Cole stiffened and struck out Gavin Lux with a 90-mph fastball and Shohei Ohtani with a vicious 80-mph knuckle curve, getting within one out to escape the jam.
But the inning took another bizarre turn – literally – when Betts hit a slow squibber toward first base that curved slightly to the left as it approached Anthony Rizzo, who fielded the ball cleanly to his right, about 15 feet from the bag .
Cole initially broke toward first base for cover, but inexplicably stopped between the mound and the bag while hanging Rizzo outside to dry. Rizzo couldn’t beat Betts and Betts was credited with an RBI infield single that cut New York’s lead to 5-1.
“Mooke has a squibber, so Rizz couldn’t really run through it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He had to stay there and make sure he secured the catch because of the spin on the ball. And I think Gerrit… he was almost working his way out of it, and he just didn’t react fast enough to get over it.”
Betts wasn’t sure exactly what happened during the play.
“I just know I hit him and I had to run,” Betts said, “and I’m glad Cole didn’t cover first.”
Cole was ahead of Freeman with a count of 1 and 2 and Freeman made an error on a 90 mph changeup before getting just enough of a 99.5 mph fastball into the infield corner to fire a flare to the shallow center for a two-run single that cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-3.
“I got two hits and was able to ignore that change, which was huge,” Freeman said. “Because in those situations you have to make mistakes on pitchers’ pitches. I was able to foul it and see another throw, and luckily I hit the ball up the middle.”
Cleanup man Teoscar Hernández then crushed a 1-and-2 slider 400 feet to the base of the center field wall, out of Judge’s reach, for a two-run double, with Freeman, sore right ankle and all, scoring from first to second. draw 5-5. Muncy walked before Cole, with his 38th pitch of the inning, caused Kiké Hernández to ground out to end the inning.
“In this whole game, actually in this whole series, a lot of crazy things have happened,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations. “That is the magic, the beauty and the theater of October baseball.”
There was more to come. The Yankees scored once in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead. The Dodgers countered with two in the eighth for a 7-6 lead, Kiké Hernández and Edman starting the rally with singles and Lux and Betts scoring runs with sacrifice flies.
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Seemingly indomitable reliever Blake Treinen threw a season-high 42 pitches while giving up just one hit, striking out three and walking one, recording seven outs from the sixth through eighth inning.
Game 3 starter and winner Walker Buehler then came out of the bullpen and threw a one-two-three-ninth for the save, spreading his arms wide after his game-ending strikeout on Alex Verdugo as teammates rushed in from their positions and came out of the game. the dugout to engulf the right-hander in one giant human embrace.
“Tonight was basically the epitome of our season,” Muncy said during a wild party in an alcohol-soaked visiting clubhouse. “We took a few hits, we came back. I took another hit and came back. It’s just guy after guy coming out, doing the work and working.
“Get some injury news, guys coming back, more injury news, guys coming back, and yet we kept at it. This match was literally our season.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
