Yamamoto, Dodgers put Yanks in 2-0 Series hole

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one hit over 6⅓ innings, Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night and the Los Angeles Dodgers hit three early longballs off Carlos Rodon to beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium to take a 2-0 World Series lead.

Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez also went deep for the Dodgers, who watched star slugger Shohei Ohtani walk off the field because of an apparent left shoulder injury at the end of the seventh inning.

After the Yankees closed to 4-2 on Giancarlo Stanton‘s RBI single in the ninth against Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia relieved with the bases loaded and retired pinch hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout for a save.

Yamamoto gave up Juan Soto‘s third-inning homer, then retired his last 11 batters.

According to ESPN Research, Yamamoto is the 13th pitcher in World Series history with one or fewer hits allowed in an outing of at least six innings. He is the second Dodgers pitcher to do so after Rich Hill in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox, and the first pitcher to do it against the Yankees.

“I was really looking forward to this game,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter, “and I’m glad that we had a great ending.”

Soto also singled in the ninth and scored on Stanton’s one-out hit off the third-base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia completed a four-hitter.

Ohtani hurt his left arm on a feet-first slide when he was caught stealing second base to end the seventh inning.

Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Of teams holding 2-0 World Series leads, 45 of 56 have gone on to win the title.

“No one said it’s going to be easy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch.”

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. Judge has struck out 13 times over the past five games, his most in any five-game span since June 2021 and his most in a five-game span of the postseason since 2017 when he was a rookie, according to ESPN Research.

Soto’s tying homer on an inside fastball was the only run Yamamoto gave up in two starts and 13⅓ innings against the Yankees this season. The rookie right-hander left to a large ovation and gave the very slightest tip of his cap to fans when he walked to the dugout.

“I think everything was working well for me, since the beginning, the first inning,” he said. “It worked pretty good today.”

Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December on a $325 million, 12-year contract, a record for pitchers, teaming with Ohtani to create record interest in Major League Baseball in Japan.

Yamamoto was sidelined from June 15 to Sept. 10 because of a strained rotator cuff and this was his finest start since the injury.

“Yamamoto, amazing job tonight and obviously we got out to the early lead and held on,” Freeman said.

In his longest outing since his start in the Bronx, Yamamoto struck out four and walked two with a five-pitch array that included curveballs, splitters, sliders and cutters. He improved to 2-0 in four postseason starts.

He threw his best regular-season game at Yankee Stadium in June when he gave up three hits over seven shutout innings. Hernandez had three homers and nine RBIs over that three-game series.

A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history to transform a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 win, Edman put the Dodgers ahead with a solo shot in the second.

After Soto tied the score, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom of the third and Hernández, in a 3-for-27 slide, homered into the right-field pavilion.

Freeman, who before Friday hadn’t gone deep since since Sept. 16, was greeted with huge cheers before each plate appearance. He worked the count full and also homered to right-center again.

Playing on a sprained right ankle, Freeman has homered in four straight Series games dating to Atlanta’s last two games against Houston in 2021. That is one shy of the record held by the Astros’ George Springer.

All three Dodgers homers came on fastballs from Rodon, whose 31 longballs allowed during the regular season tied for second most in the major leagues. Los Angeles had back-to-back Series homers for only the second time, after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager connected against Yankees left-hander Ron Guidry for a 2-1 win in Game 5 in 1981.

Rodon gave up four runs and six hits in 3⅓ innings.

Los Angeles took a 2-0 Series lead for the first time since 1988, when Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer against Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are down 2-0 for the first time since 2001, when they rebounded to win three straight at home and lost Games 6 and 7 at Arizona.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.