LOS ANGELES – Juan Soto left the Yankees clubhouse with a scowl. Aaron Boone walked down the hall with furrowed brows and a look of annoyance he couldn’t hide. Even Aaron Judge, who likes to smile a little at the end of his answers regardless of the day or the outcome of the game, struggled to really get there. Their attitude was due to their unusual silence. The only sound was that of the clubhouse assistants hitting the clears on the table to remove all the dirt.
This is painful.
“It’s a seven-game streak. You’re going to have a tough loss,” Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “We’ve lost some tough ones in the past. This is what defines character. Yes, it hurts because of the size. But I wouldn’t say anyone is more upset than another loss.”
The Yankees said all the right things, as if they were going to pick their heads up and get back at it Saturday, but their incoherent speech told a different story after losing 6-3 to the Dodgers in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series. Series. You can’t blame them for being shocked or crestfallen; the pitch was set for the Yankees to get a road win until Freddie Freeman hit the first walk slam in World Series history off lefty Nestor Cortes.
[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]
Despite their defensive mistakes and a struggling Gerrit Cole, the Yankees came out on top in a Game 1 victory when Cortes hit his second home run in 37 days — a 92 mph fastball, low and in, right where Freeman likes to hit the ball. – was hit in the center of right field at Dodger Stadium. Cortes’ first pitch got Shohei Ohtani to fly out in the foul zone, where left fielder Alex Verdugo threw over the railing and made a spectacular catch for the second out of the 10th inning. The Yankees never got a chance to celebrate that inning as Mookie Betts was intentionally walked to load the bases and a nightmare by Freeman quickly followed.
“Maybe two or three inches up,” Cortes said when asked where he wanted his fastball from Freeman. “I thought I got it to the inside of the plate where I wanted it, but I didn’t get it high enough.”
Cortes spent the days leading up to his Friday exit convincing the Yankees that he belonged on the World Series roster. He missed the final week of the regular season, and New York’s first two rounds of the postseason, with an elbow strain. There was a clear need for his left arm in the pitching staff, and Cortes wanted badly to help his team win. Boone believed he could with the Dodgers’ two best left-handed hitters for a long time.
“The truth is, he’s been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he’s getting ready for this,” Boone said of Cortes. “I knew if there was one out there, it was going to be hard to repeat Shohei, if Tim Hill could get him down. And then Mookie behind him has a tough game there, so, he felt guilty with Nestor in that position.”
Although Cortes did more harm than good in Game 1, he should get at least one chance in the Series to atone for his mistake. After all, he wasn’t the only Yankee who slipped.
Soto crossed the line for Kiké Hernández in right field in the fifth inning, turning what should have been a double into a triple. The Dodgers got on Soto’s offense early by hitting a sacrifice fly and scoring Hernández from third in the first inning of the game. In the eighth, Ohtani ripped a 113 mph fastball double to right that Soto lined off the wall. He threw twice before the second pitch, where Gleyber Torres couldn’t handle the ball as the ball went out of his glove and into empty space near the mound. Ohtani advanced to third – Soto was charged – and Mookie Betts struck out quickly to tie the game at 2-2.
Mistakes like that cannot happen at this point in this long season.
“Every little thing that comes out of this game is an opportunity for the damage to be done again,” said Torres. “And yeah, Ohtani went to third and Mookie hit a home run and it was a tie game. I have to make adjustments and if I get a chance to block the ball, just put it forward and do it a little bit. It’s very simple.”
The Yankees overcame defensive gaffes and Boone’s questionable decision to pull Cole — he had allowed one run and four hitters to reach safety in six-plus innings and 88 pitches — to reach the bottom of the inning. -10 for a 3-2 lead. Playoff hero Giancarlo Stanton hit his fourth home run in the last four games; this one was hit with two runs in the sixth to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Stanton needs one more home run this October to become the first Yankee in franchise history to hit seven homers in a single postseason.
But the Yankees’ seemingly big win in Game 1 is now buried somewhere under the Dodgers’ mound at home plate.
“We got opportunities there,” said Jaji, who went 1 for 5, struck out three and left two runners on as he walked to finish in the top of the ninth. “It kind of went back and forth the whole game. We had our chances to put them away. We just couldn’t do it. And they came up with a big clutch hit there at the end.”
The Yankees could use more of that. Now they’ll give Carlos Rodón the ball in Game 2 on Saturday — with Yoshinobu Yamamoto firing for the Dodgers — hoping the rest of the team can send them back to the Bronx with a series split. As Rizzo said, a brutal loss can define a team’s morale. The Yankees may only have one day in LA to show who they are.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow him on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]
Find out more about Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about sports, news and more