Yankees blow 5-run lead with epic defensive meltdown as Dodgers rally to clinch World Series

NEW YORK (AP) — Just when it appeared Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees were right back in this World Series, they all but handed away the trophy.

An epic meltdown of defensive miscues, beginning with Judge’s embarrassing error in center field, helped the Los Angeles Dodgers rally in a five-run fifth inning that tied the score at 5.

Young shortstop Anthony Volpe and ace pitcher Gerrit Cole also committed costly mistakes. New York’s bullpen squandered a one-run lead in the eighth, and the Dodgers held on for a 7-6 victory Wednesday night in Game 5 that wrapped up their eighth championship and second in five years.

“This is like, as bad as it gets,” Cole said. “It’s the worst feeling that you can have.”

Finally back in their first World Series since 2009, the Yankees didn’t last long.

It was the latest autumn failure for baseball’s most successful franchise — one that used to own October.

Not anymore. Not lately, at least. And in the Yankees’ universe, 15 years is a long time between titles.

“We didn’t get the job done,” Judge said. “We made some mistakes along the way that hurt us.”

On deck, an offseason of uncertainty as New York tries to retain free agent slugger Juan Soto, who is expected to have several eager suitors and command a massive contract.

“I’m really happy with the city, with the team, how these guys do, but at the end of the day, we will see,” Soto said. “We’re going to look at every situation, every offer that we get and take a decision from there.

“I feel like every team has the same opportunities,” he added. “I don’t want to say anybody has any advantage because at the end of the day we’re going to look at what they have and how much they want me.”

Judge wants Soto back in the Big Apple.

“I think everybody in this room wants him back,” the captain said. “You could look at the stats and what he did on the field, I think it was the type of leader he is in this clubhouse. He just does a lot of the little things that people don’t notice that truly make him one of the best players if not the best player in the game. … I definitely would love to see him in pinstripes for quite a long time.”

After losing the first three games to LA, the Yankees won 11-4 in Game 4 behind Volpe to prevent a sweep. That left them looking to become the first of 25 teams that fell behind 3-0 in the World Series to force a Game 6, which would have been back at Dodger Stadium.

And they got off to a rollicking start, too, with back-to-back homers by Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first inning. Giancarlo Stanton went deep leading off the third, and the Bronx Bombers had a 5-0 cushion.

“You feel pretty confident with your ace up there and a five-run lead, but you know, that’s baseball, man,” left fielder Alex Verdugo said. “They played the better baseball in this World Series.”

Cole cruised through four hitless innings, pitching around a leadoff walk in the fourth with the help of a remarkable catch by Judge as he crashed hard into the left-center fence.

California, here we come, right?

Wrong.

“I’m heartbroken,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The ending is cruel.”

Kiké Hernández opened the fifth with a single, then Judge dropped Tommy Edman’s easy fly to center, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. It appeared Judge took his eye off the ball, which he tried snagging with just his glove hand.

“You can’t give a good team like that extra outs,” Judge said. “It starts with me there on the line drive coming in, misplayed that. So that doesn’t happen, then I think we’ve got a different story tonight.”

Will Smith followed with a grounder to the right of Volpe, who fielded it cleanly in the hole and tried to get the lead runner at third base. But he bounced a hurried throw that glanced off Chisholm’s glove for another error, loading the bases.

After a mound visit, Cole buckled down and struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani as the sellout crowd of 49,263 at Yankee Stadium roared.

And it looked as though Cole had wriggled out of the jam when Mookie Betts grounded a slow squibber to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. But because the ball was spinning so much, Rizzo waited back on it. Cole initially broke to cover first base, then stopped. And when Rizzo scooped up the ball, Cole was nowhere close.

Cole pointed toward first, but by then Rizzo had no chance to beat the speedy Betts to the bag. He was credited with an infield single that shaved New York’s lead to 5-1.

“I took a bad angle to the ball,” Cole said. “I wasn’t sure really off the bat how hard he hit it. … By the time the ball got by me, I was not in a position to cover first.”

World Series MVP Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run single, matching a Fall Classic record with 12 RBIs, and Teoscar Hernández tied it with a two-run double over Judge’s head in left-center.

“We didn’t take care of the ball well enough in that inning,” Boone said in an understatement.

With the five-run advantage gone in a flash, the end almost felt inevitable.

Stanton put the Yankees back in front 6-5 with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but reliever Tommy Kahnle loaded the bases with none out in the eighth on two singles and a four-pitch walk.

A catcher’s interference call on Austin Wells also hurt as Lux and Betts came through with sac flies off closer Luke Weaver to give the Dodgers a 7-6 lead that right-handers Blake Treinen and Walker Buehler refused to relinquish.

In the clubhouse afterward, Cole summed up the collapse with two words.

“It’s brutal,” he said.

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