New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Game 3 live: Scores, updates, highlights, commentary

After Alex Verdugo hit a two-run home run to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2, Tommy Edman made a beautiful spinning play up the middle on a ball hit by Gleyber Torres to close out the game.

It was a fitting end given how well the Dodgers’ defense played today and how many free baserunners the Yankees gave the Dodgers and how many miscues the Yankees defense has made this series.

The Yankees were also thought to have a starting pitching advantage coming into this series, but the Dodgers have been the team that has seen their starters come through. Meanwhile, the Yankees are hitting just .186/.284/.294 through three games.

No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series, so the Yankees will be looking to make history starting with Game 4 tomorrow night when they’ll give the ball to Luis Gil while the Dodgers throw a bullpen game.

Well, the Yankees aren’t getting shut out in this one. Down to their final strike, Alex Verdugo unloaded on a Michael Kopech offering and pimped it as the Yankees cut the lead to 4-2.

They’re still down to their final out in Game 3 at home.

The Dodgers turned to Ryan Brasier in the eighth inning despite left-handed-hitting Juan Soto leading off. It didn’t matter. Brasier got Soto to line out, and after a walk to Aaron Judge, Brasier struck out both Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to take this game to the ninth inning.

The Yankees have struck out 10 times tonight and have just one extra-base hit, so many fans don’t believe a comeback is possible and have started leaving the stadium.

It remains 4-0 Dodgers, who are now three outs away from taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the World Series.

The Yankees haven’t had many chances in this World Series, but they finally did in the seventh inning in Game 3. Trailing 4-0, the Yankees got an Anthony Rizzo single and an Alex Verdugo walk around two strikeouts to put two runners on for the top of the order. However, Gleyber Torres was called out looking on a pitch that clearly seemed high.

The Dodgers will take a 4-0 lead into the top of the eighth inning as these final innings continue to drag on with an abundance of pitching changes.

Well, Tommy Kahnle is coming on to pitch for the Yankees with Clay Homes done for the night, so we’ll have yet another pitching change here. 12 pitchers have now been used in this game. 12!

Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani both can’t seem to get anything going.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Judge came up against Brusdar Graterol with Juan Soto on first and one out. With the Yankees desperate for a big hit from their star, Judge grounded into a fielder’s choice back to the pitcher.

Then, in the top of the seventh inning, Ohtani started off the inning by fouling out to third base. We know the slugger is dealing with a shoulder injury, but he’s now 1-for-11 with two walks and three strikeouts so far in the World Series. Not quite the fireworks we expected from the two likely MVP winners.

With the top of the Yankees’ lineup coming up in the sixth innings, the Dodgers will go to the bullpen rather than let Walker Buehler face the order a third time. Buehler ends the day with five innings, zero earned runs, five strikeouts, two hits, and two walks.

It’s yet another tremendous World Series start for Buehler.

Brusdar Graterol will now pitch for the Dodgers with a 4-0 lead.

The Yankees have continued to give the Dodgers free baserunners tonight, and it continues to hurt them.

With one out in the sixth inning, Jake Cousins hit Gavin Lux. Lux then stole second base against Jose Trevino, who we mentioned has struggled to throw out runners this season, and came around to score on an Enrique Hernandez single up the middle.

The Dodgers lead 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and three of their four runs tonight have now been players who have gotten on base via walk or hit by pitch.

The Dodgers breathed a sigh of relief at the start of the fourth inning after Aaron Judge missed a hanging breaking ball and hit a fly out to left field. However, Giancarlo Stanton followed with a double to left field for the team’s first hit of the game. Jazz Chisholm then followed with a sinking line drive to right, but Mookie Betts made a nice diving play to snag the second out of the inning.

Just a few pitches later, Anthony Volpe laced a line drive into left field, and it seemed like the Yankees were finally going to get on the board. However, a dart from Teoscar Hernandez beat a lumbering Stanton to home plate, and Stanton slid directly into the tag for the third out of the inning.

Perhaps the Yankees just gave the Dodgers back all the momentum they had taken in the top of the inning. We go to the fifth with the Dodgers up 3-0.

There’s nothing enviable about coming into the game with two runners on and Shohei Ohtani coming up to bat; however, Nestor Cortes got Ohtani swinging and then induced a weak fly out from Mookie Betts to get out of the jam.

Dodgers lead 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth, and that decision to call a safety squeeze could be a major turning point if the Yankees are able to come back.

Gavin Lux began the fourth inning with a five-pitch walk. It was the third lead-off walk the Yankees have allowed in the first four innings of this game. Enrique Hernandez then laced a line drive to right-center which allowed Lux to advance to third base with nobody out.

Despite having the top of their order just one batter away, the Dodgers decided to try a safety squeeze with Tommy Edman, but the bunt was right back at Mark Leiter Jr. and Gavin Lux was thrown out at the plate. The Dodgers challenged the call, but the call on the field stood.

With runners on first and second with one out, the Yankees will now go to Nestor Cortes to face Shohei Ohtani.

The Yankees only have two baserunners through the first three innings, and both times it’s been Gleyber Torres working a walk. He was stranded in the first inning and now he’s stranded again in the third inning after Juan Soto grounded out to first base.

Walker Buehler has needed 53 pitches to get through three innings, but he has also not allowed a single hit and struck out five while producing a 58% whiff rate and 38% CSW so far.

The Dodgers will take a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning, and history does not favor the Yankees right now.

After getting Teoscar Hernandez to fly out to the shortstop, Clarke Schmidt walked Max Muncy on eight pitches and Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to the bullpen, bringing in Mark Leiter Jr. The right-hander seemed shakey at first but got Will Smith to ground out back to him to get out of the jam.

It wasn’t a great day for Schmidt, who finished with 3 ER on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings. However, Schmidt wasn’t as bad as his line indicates. The Dodgers worked some tough at-bats against him and laid off some strong secondary pitches. Schmidt ended the day with a 27% whiff rate and 31% CSW but had thrown 68 pitches to get eight outs.

The Dodgers have a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the third.

Despite chants of “Overrated” raining down from the Yankees Stadium bleachers, Mookie Betts put together an impressive at-bat in the third inning. He got ahead early in the count and then fouled off three different pitches -- curve, sinker, and sweeper and then did a tremendous job laying off of a really close 2-2 cutter that was off the plate away before flaring a shallow bloop in front of Juan Soto in right field.

Tommy Edman got a tremendous read on the play and scored easily from second to make it a 3-0 Dodgers lead.

The health of Shohei Ohtani’s shoulder was the biggest story coming into today. The shoulder popped out on a slide in Game 2 and despite the broadcast crew tonight letting us know that Ohtani was a swimmer growing up and has flexible shoulders, there was some concern that his swing would be impacted. He didn’t have to swing at all in his first at-bat, drawing a four-pitch walk, but Ohtani took two healthy hacks in his second at-bat, grounding out to second base. He may be swinging through pain, but it looks like he can actually swing the bat tonight.

Walker Buehler responded to Clarke Schmidt’s two-strikeout inning by striking out two himself, blowing fastballs by both Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo. Buehler has been leaning on that four-seam fastball aggressively through the first two innings, throwing it 46% of the time and getting five whiffs and four called strikes for a 53% CSW. Both Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton have hit fastballs well this postseason, but the rest of the Yankees have struggled, so we should look for this type of usage to continue.

It remains 2-0 Dodgers heading to the top of the third.

Clarke Schmidt gets a fly out to right field and then back-to-back strikeouts of Gavin Lux and Enrique Hernandez to get this game into the bottom of the 2nd inning. Schmidt already has two whiffs and four called strikes on his sweeper for a 67% CSW through two frames.

Dodgers still lead 2-0.

Aaron Judge’s postseason struggles continued in his first at-bat of the game. With a runner on first, Judge swung through a 96 mph fastball, later fouled back a 94 mph fastball, and then struck out on a cutter off the plate.

Giancarlo Stanton would then groundout to end the bottom of the first inning. Dodgers still lead 2-0.

After Shohei Ohtani walked on four pitches, not having to swing the bat once, Freddie Freeman later drove him home to get Game 3 started by taking Clarke Schmidt deep for his third home run of the series.

Freeman has now homered in three straight games for the Dodgers and has four extra-base hits in the World Series after not hitting one in the other playoff games. In fact, Freeman has tied an MLB record with a home run in five straight World Series games going back to 2021.

The Dodgers now take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the first inning.

Shohei Ohtani was cleared to play in Game 3 despite suffering a shoulder injury in Game 2 while sliding into second. Yet, the NL MVP frontrunner got our attention again when he came out for pre-game introductions wearing some sort of sling or harness on his shoulder.

Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon also suggested that it could just be a heating pad.

Whatever it is, Ohtani’s health is sure to be one of the top stories for tonight’s game.

• Moneyline: LAD: (+125) | NYY: (-150)

• Spread: LAD: +1.5 (-160) | NYY: -1.5 (+135)

• Total: 8.5 -- Over: (-120) | Under: (+100)

The big news of the day for lineups was that Shohei Ohtani will indeed be starting for the Dodgers as the designated hitter after hurting his left shoulder on a slide into second base in Game 2. The likely NL MVP will bat lead-off and the first four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup are the same as Game 2. Max Muncy will move up to the fifth spot against a righty with Enrique Hernandez dropping to eighth, and Gavin Lux will come back into the lineup and bat seventh with Miguel Rojas shifting back to the bench.

The Yankees were the first team to post their lineup today, running back pretty much the same unit from Game 2 with one minor exception. Jose Trevino will catch and bat eighth for the Yankees with Austin Wells shifting to the bench. The Yankees rookie catcher has gone just 4-for-41 this postseason with a 41 percent strikeout rate, so the team will turn to the veteran. One consequence to watch will be how Trevino handles the running game after he only threw out 13 of 70 baserunners this year.