I’m Chris Crawford, and I’ll be your live blog host this evening for Game 2 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. It’ll be tough to match the magic of Game 1 where we saw a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning from Freddie Freeman, but this should be another good game with Carlos Rodon taking on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Stay tuned for updates throughout the contest.
How to Watch: Game 2 of the World Series can be viewed on FOX beginning at 8:08 ET.
It wasn’t easy, but the Dodgers were able to get through the heart of the lineup — barely — to complete the victory with Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia on the mound.
The inning started with Juan Soto drilling a baseball off the wall, and it was hit too hard for him to advance to second base. He was able to get there anyway on a wild pitch from Treinen.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Aaron Judge still can’t get going, and Treinen got him on a slider for his third strikeout.
Giancarlo Stanton then decided that third base was his enemy, and hit this liner to score Soto off the bag.
Giancarlo Stanton drives in a run to cut the @Yankees deficit to 2 👀 #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/C16cimUd11
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Jazz Chisholm then lashed a single into right field after fouling off several quality sliders to put the go-ahead runner at the plate.
That brought up Anthony Rizzo, and Rizzo was plunked in the elbow to load the bases with one out for Anthony Volpe, and Treinen got Volpe on a filthy slider to get that second out.
The Dodgers decided to go to Alex Vesia to get the final out. And it took him just one pitch to pinch-hitter Jose Trevino to procure the save.
The @Dodgers take the first two games in Los Angeles! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/8i4CZz3BGC
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Game 3 will be played in New York on Monday with Clarke Schmidt taking on Walker Buehler., but attention now turns to the severity of the Shohei Ohtani injury.
It’ll get lost in the shuffle because it looks like it’s going to come in a losing effort, but the Yankees bullpen was very good during Game 2 against the Dodgers.
Jake Cousins, Tim Hill, Clay HOlmes and Mark Leiter Jr. combined for 4 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, and didn’t allow a hit over the final 2 2/3 innings.
It may not be enough with the Yankees trailing 4-1 going into the top of the ninth, but it’s a positive sign for New York with the series heading home starting Monday.
Everything has gone right so far for the Dodgers in Game 2, but that might have changed in spectacular fashion.
After Shohei Ohtani drew a walk, the presumptive MVP attempted to steal second base. Not only was he thrown out, it appears he suffered an injury on the play as well.
Shohei Ohtani is coming off the field with the trainer pic.twitter.com/Ueqe8VysNL
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 27, 2024
Because Ohtani is the designated hitter, we may not find out the severity of the injury until Ohtani is due up, or until after the game. Obviously, we’ll have an update as soon as we hear more.
UPDATE: It appears to be a left shoulder injury, and translation suggests that this could be a dislocation.
Joe Davis followed on Fox, saying the NHK broadcast had audio of Ohtani saying in Japanese that he popped his shoulder out
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) October 27, 2024
There were questions about what exactly Yoshinobu Yamamoto could give the Dodgers in the World Series.
Question answered.
Yamamoto was pulled after 6 1/3 innings while allowing just one run, and it ends with him getting Giancarlo Stanton on a weak fly out to second base.
While he “only” struck out four and didn’t generate a copious amount of swing-and-miss, he had the Yankees off-balance sans a Juan Soto solo homer, and he made the most of his 86 pitches.
What a World Series debut for Yoshinobu Yamamoto! 💪 pic.twitter.com/6YIclpG1DL
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 27, 2024
Anthony Banda has entered to protect a 4-1 lead with one out and no runners on in the seventh.
What a start for Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
What a disaster thus far for Aaron Judge.
Yamamoto was able to go 1-2-3 for his third-straight inning, and after getting Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto to ground out, he did this to Aaron Judge.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is through 6 innings of 1-hit ball! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/5wNYC8ViSx
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Judge is now just 1-for-8 in the World Series, and he’s struck out five times.
It’s 4-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Yankees decided to go with Nestor Cortes against Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 10th, and we all know how it worked out.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees decided to go with Hill against Freeman, and got this result instead.
Tim Hill came on to face Freddie Freeman in the 5th and got him to pop out to short pic.twitter.com/j4HE3lKpxx
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 27, 2024
Yankees fans, you are free to play the what-if game.
It’s 4-1 Dodgers at the end of five.
What an outing for Yoshinobu Yamamoto thus far.
The fifth inning was as easy as it gets and featured a meek grounder to Freddie Freeman, a weak flyout to left and this unhittable splitter to strike out Anthony Volpe to begin the fifth.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Disappearing 91mph Splitter. 👻 pic.twitter.com/8kc0fIuqJX
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 27, 2024
Yamamoto is now through five frames with 72 pitches. The question is how long the Dodgers will let the right-hander go with a 4-1 lead.
That’ll do it for Carlos Rodón.
The left-hander went 3 1/3 innings and struck out three with 40-of-63 pitches landing for strikes, but the four-run third will be what everyone remembers. It’s what everyone should remember, to be clear.
Jake Cousins is now on the bump for the Yankees with one out in the fourth and no one on.
We finally got our first 1-2-3 inning.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto seems to be getting better as this game goes on. He induced a groundout to Giancarlo Stanton to third and one to short from Jazz Chisholm Jr. to short,and then got Anthony Rizzo swinging to end the inning.
Yamamoto is now through four innings while allowing just one run, and he’s allowed just the homer to Juan Soto with two strikeouts while throwing 62 pitches. He’ll be back out there for the fifth with a 4-1 cushion.
The Dodgers, who are good.
Carlos Rodón got Miguel Rojas to fly out to Juan Soto to open the bottom of the third, and then got Shohei Ohtani on this nasty slider.
What a pitch by Carlos Rodón to strike out Shohei Ohtani! 😮💨
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 27, 2024
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/qwkwpPYoq1
But Mookie Betts lined a single, and Teoscar Hernández did not miss on this pitch up in the zone from Rodón.
TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ! @DODGERS LEAD AGAIN! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/U0fHdnNpWG
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
And, of course, Freddie Freeman decided he wanted to join the party as well.
FREDDIE FREEMAN GOES BACK-TO-BACK! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/xwRHRb3IoM
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Tommy Edman then doubled to the wall for his second extra-base hit and stole third base before a line drive found the glove of Alex Verdugo.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Rodón is done. We talked earlier about how important it was for him to avoid the big inning. He couldn’t.
This Juan Soto fella. Pretty good.
After Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the first two batters out in the top of the third, the 25-year-old superstar tied the game at 1-1 with this tank into right field.
JUAN SOTO TIES THE GAME! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/dIJb3d2KdF
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Yamamoto was able to get the struggling Aaron Judge to fly out to right, but we’ve got a brand new ballgame.
It took a few innings before we got our first run of Game 1. We only had to wait until the bottom of the second to get scoring in this one.
Tommy Edman has been red-hot with the bat, and didn’t miss this mistake from Carlos Rodón.
TOMMY EDMAN STRIKES AGAIN! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/XZ50jg5j3M
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
That’s the second homer of the playoffs for Edman, and already the 13th RBI.
Rodón was able to get through the rest of the inning unscatched, but he’ll enter third with the Yankees on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Yamamoto was able to get Jazz Chisholm Jr. to ground out back to the mound, but then issued a five-pitch walk. Anthony Volpe scorched a ball to center that hooked right back into the glove of Tommy Edman, and Austin Wells ground out to second to end the inning. Through two frames, Yamamoto has thrown 35 pitches, so a quick inning or two would be ideal to see him go past four-to-five innings.
Rodón was able to get Shohei Ohtani to hit a routine fly to Aaron Judge, but then Mookie Betts lined a single the opposite-way on a change that caught too much of the plate. Teoscar Hernández flew out to Juan Soto, and Freddie Freeman — after a heck of an ovation for his heroics in Game 1 — popped out to Anthony Rizzo about 10 feet in front of home plate.
Both pitchers look to be on to begin Game 2. That was also true in Game 1.
It wasn’t perfect, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto was able to fire a scoreless first to open Game 2 of the World Series.
Yamamoto walked Gleyber Torres to open the contest, and Torres advanced to second on a groundout by Juan Soto to short. Aaron Judge worked a 3-2 count against Yamamoto before he he was able to get Judge to strikeout on a slider just below his knees.
The red-hot Giancarlo Stanton had a chance to drive in the first run of the game, but he popped out to first.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto strikes out Aaron Judge in a scoreless first inning 😤 #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/HHYcHOqK4b
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
Time for the Dodgers to go to work.
The World Series is often a time to bring out the biggest stars and get nostalgic.
The Dodger did both, with Ice Cube performing prior to first pitch.
The Lakers did not beat the Supersonics.
Dave Roberts is enjoying @icecube's performance!#WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/gwzAxFkODC
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 27, 2024
Jack Flaherty gave the Dodgers 5 2/3 quality innings, but there’s the potential for some concern with Flaherty for the rest of the series.
Dave Roberts said Jack Flaherty’s hamstring tightened up a little bit on the fastball before the curveball that Giancarlo Stanton hit out last night. They aren’t anticipating it being a concern later in the series.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 26, 2024
Some might view this as Flaherty making an “excuse” to allowing a homer to Stanton, but that doesn’t really matter. The Dodgers are light on starting pitching options, and it seems very likely they’ll need the right-hander to make at least one more start.
Yamamoto struggled in his first postseason start — similiar to how he struggles in his first MLB one; both against the Padres — but since then he’s been mostly effective. He blanked the Padres in Game 5 over five innings, and while he did allow a pair of runs over 4 1/3 innings, he was able to get eight strikeouts while helping the Dodgers clinch the trip to the World Series. Yamamoto has his ups-and-downs, but certainly has the stuff to keep the Dodgers in the game.
Rodón has also made three starts in the postseason, and has had similar results to Yamamoto. He allowed four runs in 3 2/3 frames against the Royals in Game 2 of the ALDS, dominated the Guardians in Game 1 of the ALCS with nine strikeouts over six strong frames, and was solid —if unspectacular — with two runs over 4 2/3 innings in Game 5 while accumulating six punchouts. The key for Rodón will be avoiding the blowup innings, and if he can, the Yankees have a good chance of evening this series.
Very little changes from Game 1 and Game 2, according to the oddsmakers.
- Moneyline: LAD: (-126) | NYY: (+108)
- Spread: LAD: -1.5 (+152) | NYY: +1.5 (-184)
- Total: 9 -- Over: (+102) | Under: (-124)
Both teams have set their lineups for Game 2, and only one has made changes from Game 1.
Tonight's #WorldSeries Game 2 Dodgers lineup vs. Yankees: pic.twitter.com/5uq4Y07fdW
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 26, 2024
Miguel Rojas will handle shortstop for the Dodgers with left-hander Carlos Rodon on the bump for the Yankees. Gavin Lux is out of the lineup for the contest, so Enrique Hernandez will play second base and Tommy Edman will patrol center field.
Game 2 coming up. #RepBX pic.twitter.com/zDUhXM4v0B
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 26, 2024
No changes for the Yankees as they attempt to even the series at a game a piece. Aaron Boone was asked about potentially moving Giancarlo Stanton ahead of the struggling Aaron Judge, but he quickly dismissed the idea.