What a game.
The Dodgers and Yankees are two of the best teams in baseball, and they showed it Friday night in a heavyweight brawl at Yankee Stadium. The teams were scoreless into the 11th inning before the Dodgers broke the seal on a two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez.
By the time the dust settled the Dodgers had exited the stadium with a 2-1 victory to snap the Yankees’ eight-game win streak. Here are six takeaways from a thrilling contest in the Bronx:
1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto steps up
The Dodgers badly needed a good night from their pitching staff and Yamamoto set a heck of a tone with his start. He went 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed only two hits. It was a great time for the longest scoreless outing of his young career.
2. Just missed
The Dodgers had a few deep flyouts that looked like they might break a scoreless tie. Andy Pages led off the fifth with a 403-foot flyout to centerfield. Gavin Lux in the seventh had a well-hit 396-foot flyout to center. Then Shohei Ohtani hit a ball well to the opposite field, but just got it off the end of the bat and left it short of the wall at 326 feet.
3. Cinema
Speaking of just missing a home run, there was a true cinematic moment in the bottom of the eighth. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on reliever Blake Treinen to pitch to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge with two on and two out. After a 10-pitch battle he walked Judge, bringing up Giancarlo Stanton with the bases loaded. Stanton appeared to launch a ball somewhere toward Neptune, but he got under it and instead it was a lazy flyout to left to keep the game scoreless.
4. Not-so-fun(damentals)
The 10th inning was a disaster for the Dodgers. Pages was the free runner to start the inning at second base. Gavin Lux led off the inning and struck out looking without ever looking to bunt the runner over. Not bunting isn’t an unforgivable sin in that spot, but it probably would’ve been the better move given Lux’s struggles this season. Then Kiké Hernandez grounded out to short, but Pages took off to third thinking he could outrun the ball. In that spot if the ball is in front of the runner, the runner stays at second base. If the ball is behind them or if they can take off and make it so the ball is behind them, then they should go. Pages had no chance of outrunning that Hernandez ground ball and he was promptly thrown out at third base to take a runner out of scoring position for LA. That kind of mistake cannot happen.
5. New RBI leader
Teoscar Hernandez’s excellent season continued with a huge hit Friday night. He got an 0-2 slider that stayed in the lower quadrant of the zone and he didn’t miss it, smoking it into left center for a two-run double that scored Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. Prior to that knock the Dodgers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. He’s up to 41 RBIs this season, which surpasses Ohtani for the team lead.
6. Extra innings rarity
The last time the Dodgers allowed 1 or fewer runs in 11 or more innings was on June 2, 2017 against the Brewers when they won a 2-1 game in 12. Friday’s win moved the Dodgers to 5-3 in extras this season, and the 11-inning game tied their longest contest of the year.
