LOS ANGELES — When Yankees reliever Jake Cousins staggered to the mound in the bottom of the 10th inning, a simple but delicate task lay before him. His goal was to take on the bottom third of the Dodgers’ batting lineup and force the team to retire in order, leaving Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts alone. And Freddie Freeman kept watching — and Game 1 of the World Series would be New York’s.
If Will Smith, Gavin Lux, or Tommy Edman were on base, the entire game would change completely. With Ohtani closing in on the leadoff spot, Cousins is a sure bet if the soon-to-be National League MVP steps up to bat. Who would come out of New York’s bullpen to face Ohtani in that scenario? That was a question coach Aaron Boone definitely didn’t want to answer.
Six days earlier, Cousins had an outstanding performance in Game 5 of the ALCS, striking out four of the five batters he faced in the final stages of a tied game that the Yankees won and clinched the American League pennant. . Cousins is part of the Yankees’ project to reacquire relievers, and has gradually earned Coach Boone’s trust at a high-leverage spot, with dependable players Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver already in the mix. Cousins pitched in regulation and had just one career save. He was the one who got the ball and gave us a chance to shut out Game 1.
With three outs left, the Yankees’ ace, Gerrit Cole, showed great pitching, giving up one run in the 6th inning, and then October’s superhero, Giancarlo Stanton, hit a spectacular shot to give New York a come-from-behind lead. He will probably win the match by a narrow margin. 6th time. Jazz Chisholm Jr., coming out of a very quiet ALCS, restored the Yankees’ lead with a leadoff single and aggressive base running, scoring in the top of the 10th inning. Aside from Cole and Stanton, it wasn’t exactly a smooth road for New York to take the lead into the bottom of the 10th inning — repeated failures with runners in scoring position, and Gleyber Torres’ failure as the game wore on. The defensive mistakes were a drag – but three more outs and all will be forgotten.
Smith got a harmless one out with a fly to right, but Lux followed with a five-pitch walk. Cousins was effective as a Yankee, but he had a tendency to lose zone relatively often, especially against left-handed hitters, and his wildness resurfaced at brutally inopportune times. Unless Edman suddenly grounded into a double play, Ohtani’s turn at bat was imminent. But when Edman hit a hard grounder up the middle that second baseman Oswaldo Cabrera couldn’t reach in time to record an out, Ohtani became a threat to New York. With just one out, Betts and Freeman grabbed bats and prepared to hit in case Ohtani couldn’t get through.
But first, the terrible question the Yankees would have liked to have left unanswered: Who would play against Ohtani?
Boone had two left-handed prospects in Nestor Cortez Jr. and Tim Hill. A journeyman like Cousins, Hill has found a home in the Yankees’ bullpen as a sidewinding southpaw, consistently confusing batters with his unique arm angle, and has played well in seven games this October. . Cortez, a former All-Star who has become a mainstay of New York’s pitching staff in recent years, is a better-known figure, but he’s a relative unknown at this point. He hasn’t pitched since Sept. 18 with an elbow flexor injury, but continued his rehabilitation last month and believes New York is worthy of adding him to the World Series roster, especially as the team’s potential counter. I trained my body. LA has a lot of dangerous left-handed hitters in its lineup.
And with two left-handed sluggers, Ohtani and Freeman, scheduled to play in the game, Boone was convinced Cortez was the right decision.
“This matchup was very good,” he said after his team lost 6-3. “Actually, he’s been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he’s been preparing for this game, and once Tim Hill gets him on the ground and gets Mookie behind him. I knew it was going to be difficult to double Shohei with one guy out there, so I felt he was convicted against Nestor in that spot because he would be a tough matchup there. ”
And Cortez not only has the most impactful assignment of his major league career, but also the difficult task that any relief pitcher would likely have, winning a trio of MVPs with two outs left. I faced the situation and did my best.
As Cortez warmed up, Dodger Stadium’s attendance set a new record for the night as an announced crowd of 52,394 waited for Ohtani’s possible walk-off World Series win. But hopes for such a moment were suddenly derailed when Ohtani sent a throw that sliced Cortez’s first pitch down the left field line. And all I could see was the shocking moment when Alex Verdugo made a spectacular grab in foul territory and crashed over the wall and into the stands. Outside.
Verdugo fell out of play, allowing runners to advance to second and third base. With first base now open, Manager Boone decided to bring in Betts to set up a left-on-left matchup of Cortez vs. Freeman, even though the bases were loaded and Chavez LaVine was absolutely ready to explode. Selected.
Ohtani and Betts may have been wasted, but that’s why the Dodgers keep winning MVPs. Now it was Freeman’s turn.
Once again, Cortez’s first pitch — a fastball aimed over the top by catcher Austin Wells but leaked down into Freeman’s nitro zone — was swung maliciously. And this time, no one had a chance to catch him except for the crowd of rabid Dodgers fans packed into the right-field pavilion. About seven minutes after Cortez came on to seal the Yankees’ Game 1 victory, Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. Life comes to you quickly in October.
The Yankees’ bullpen, which allowed no earned runs over 15 2/3 innings against the Royals in the ALDS, was starting to show cracks against the Guardians in the ALCS, but it still suffered the biggest outs in the biggest moments heading into the series. won in just 5 matches. But the Dodgers represent a completely different beast for New York’s bullpen to tame. And in the series opener in Los Angeles, it appeared Boone was in a position to deploy a well-rested relief staff and obvious additions in Cortez to a considerable advantage, but the Yankees secured the victory. I didn’t record enough outs to make it.
This is the second time this month that the Yankees have lost in an absolute classic game in October. The only loss in the ALCS to Cleveland, while equally charming, came in a particularly game three. In this game, New York also took the lead late in the game, but wasted it by allowing a walk-off home run. But as brutal as the moment was, it was relatively easy and logical for New York to maintain its confidence after that heartbreaking loss in Cleveland. The Yankees still felt firmly in control of the series, and were able to flash through the results quickly and move on with the composure that was tested as they closed out the series over the next two days.
That luxury doesn’t exist in Los Angeles, as the Yankees lost the series for the first time this October. Even without knowing exactly how the game would play out, the Yankees losing Game 1 in Los Angeles would be a reasonable enough outcome to accept at the beginning of the series. But the combination of events and lackluster performances that led to New York’s dramatic loss on Friday shows just how tough a World Series opponent will be and how well the Yankees will have to play and pitch to keep pace. A solemn reminder of what must be done. Along with Los Angeles.
