2 weeks Ago By Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES -- lifted his bat to the sky and watched it fly. The ' hobbled first baseman, who has spent all month playing through a badly sprained right ankle, came up with the bases loaded, his team trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, and delivered a walk-off grand slam, electrifying a sold-out Dodger Stadium and sending his team to an improbable 6-3 victory over the in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. It marked the third walk-off homer in the World Series in franchise history, along with (Game 3 in 2018) and Kirk Gibson (Game 1 in 1988).
The Yankees had taken the lead in the previous half-inning when , 5-for-34 through his first nine postseason games, lined a one-out single to the right side off , then stole second base and easily stole third and came around to score on a groundout. But the Dodgers threatened once again in the bottom half, putting runners on first and second with one out and coming to bat. The Yankees called upon lefty , who hadn't pitched since Sept.
18 because a flexor strain, to spill out of the bullpen to face him. Ohtani lofted the first pitch into left-field foul territory, prompting a spectacular reaching catch by . Both runners moved up a base because Verdugo fell over the fence, allowing both runners to move up 90 feet.
The Yankees then opted to intentionally walk , loading the bases and setting up the lefty-lefty matchup with Freeman. It didn't work. The first pitch from Cortes was a 93 mph fastball on the inside corner.
Freeman turned on it and sent it 423 feet to right field -- a no-doubter that gave the Dodgers a thrilling victory. The Yankees and Dodgers -- two of Major League Baseball's most stories franchises, residing in its two biggest markets, and representing the two teams with the best records in each league this season -- are meeting in the World Series for the 12th time, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics for the most common final-round matchup in all the major sports. As if the matchup couldn't be any more high-profile, it also features and Ohtani, the two transcendent stars who will each be named MVP.
But another star shined in Game 1..
