2024 World Series: Yankees' bats wake up to beat Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers and avoid sweep
Anthony Volpe's third-inning grand slam helps send New York to an 11-4 win in Game 4 , cutting Los Angeles' series lead to 3-1. Game 5 is Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
Baseball Softball
Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers will have to keep the champagne on ice.
The New York Yankees lived to see another day with a 11-4 victory in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday (30 October), avoiding their first sweep in The Fall Classic since 1976.
The Bronx Bombers finally did some bombing on this night at Yankee Stadium, scoring more runs than their combined total from the previous three games (seven runs)
In perhaps a positive sign, Ohtani got his first hit since partially dislocating his left shoulder in Game 2, and Freddie Freeman homered for the fourth straight game in the opening frame to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
But Anthony Volpe’s grand slam in the third sparked a comeback as the Yankees never trailed the rest of the way. A five-run eighth featuring homers from Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres paved the way for a Game 5 on Thursday in New York.
Only one team in Major League Baseball history has come back from a three-game deficit in the play-offs - the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who Dodgers manager Dave Roberts played for and beat the Yankees in the American League Championships Series before going on to win the World Series.
Shohei Ohtani's 'chasing hasn't been good'
Ohtani singled up the middle in the fifth, with his swing looking stronger than on Monday. But he remains 2-for-15 in the series, which Roberts said has more to do with his plate discipline than the shoulder.
“We've asked him many times over and it's not impeding,” Roberts said at the post-game press conference. “He doesn't feel it.
“I just think it's just the chase. You see it - there's some big at-bats that you know could result in a walk and not taking the base. The chasing hasn't been good.”
Freeman became the first-ever player to homer in the first four games of a World Series. Dating back to 2021 when he was with the Atlanta Braves, the 35-year-old now has hit a home run in six straight games.
Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees in Game 5, Jack Flaherty in Game 1.