Freddie Freeman homers again, Dodgers stifle Yankees for 3-0 World Series lead

Freeman’s two-run homer in the first inning is his third in as many games and Walker Buehler throws five scoreless innings, sending the Dodgers on their way to a 4-2 win. They will go for a sweep in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Oct 29, 2024 - 06:00

Freddie Freeman homers again, Dodgers stifle Yankees for 3-0 World Series lead

The New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, right, is tagged out at home by Dodgers catcher Will Smith during the fourth inning of Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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NEW YORK — Rapper Fat Joe sang before Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

The fat lady could be up next.

The Dodgers got a two-run home run from Freddie Freeman in the first inning and never looked back, moving within one game of their first full-season championship since 1988 with a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees.

Starting with Freeman’s 10th-inning walk-off grand slam in Game 1, the Dodgers have outscored the Yankees 12-4 while taking the first three games of this Series. They will go for the championship – and the first World Series sweep since 2012 (San Francisco Giants over Detroit Tigers) – in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. It would be only the second sweep in the 12 World Series meetings between these two rivals (the Dodgers also did it in 1963).

“Just really focusing on winning the game tomorrow as a team,” Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said through his interpreter. “There’s nothing better than to be able to have the opportunity to do so.”

Ohtani has replaced Freeman as the wounded Dodger heroically playing on. Ohtani emerged for pregame introductions wearing a brace or heating pad on his injured left shoulder under his jacket and clutched his left arm close to his body when running the bases. He went 0 for 3 but reached base twice – on a walk and when he was hit in the foot by a pitch.

Freeman, meanwhile, has clearly recovered from the sprained ankle that hampered him so badly during the first two rounds of the postseason. He turned on an inside cutter from Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt in the first inning Monday night and lined it into the right-field seats for a two-run home run.

“Just based off what he’s done the last three games – we obviously have to find a way to win one more game, but let’s say we win one more game at some point – I expect Freddie to never pay for a meal ever again in L.A.,” utility man Kiké Hernandez said.

Freeman also homered in the third inning of Game 2, making him only the third player to homer in each of the first three games in a World Series (Barry Bonds in 2002, Hank Bauer in 1958). Freeman also homered for the Atlanta Braves in Games 5 and 6 of the 2021 World Series, giving him home runs in a record-tying five consecutive World Series Games. George Springer also did it for the Houston Astros in the 2017 and 2019 World Series.

“This game is hard – round ball and round bat, and moving a lot of different ways and coming fast,” Freeman said. “So I’m thankful that it (his swing) is in a good spot right now when we need it the most.

“I’m just seeing the ball very well. I’m swinging at the strikes, taking the balls. It’s what you’re trying to do every game. And thankfully, I’ve been able to do that.”

In perhaps his final game in a Dodgers uniform – he will be a free agent this winter – Walker Buehler recalled his own history. Pitching like the Buehler of old, he held the Yankees scoreless for five innings, allowing just two hits and two walks.

“Listen, man, we play professional baseball for a living,” Buehler said. “When it’s going good, there’s not much else you’d rather do on this earth.”

There were few times during the regular season when Buehler had that feeling. But his 5.38 ERA from the regular season has been irrelevant in the postseason. Buehler allowed six runs in the second inning of Game 3 in the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres – then gave the Dodgers 12 consecutive scoreless innings through the rest of his postseason. He has allowed just one run in his 18 career World Series innings.

“We all knew what he was going to do. We all know he turns into a different animal in the postseason,” reliever Anthony Banda said.

“It’s just in his DNA,” second baseman Gavin Lux said. “Some guys just have it. … The bigger the moment the bigger they perform. Walker’s got that in him. He always has. You just see that different look in his eyes. The bigger the game we all want Walker out there.”

That six-run inning in the NLDS was fueled by poor defense – so they owed him one. The only time Buehler ran into trouble against the Yankees, the defense stepped up around him.

Giancarlo Stanton doubled with one out in the fourth inning (the first hit off Buehler). Mookie Betts made a diving catch on Jazz Chisholm’s sinking liner for the second out before Anthony Volpe dropped a single into left field. Teoscar Hernandez came up throwing, firing a 93.9 mph bullet (his fastest throw of the season via Statcast) on one hop to catcher Will Smith who tagged Stanton out to keep the Yankees scoreless.

“The Teo throw was huge. It obviously killed the momentum,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Mookie’s play on the sinking liner from Jazz. … I thought Walker was kind of feeling it a little bit. There was starting to be a bit more hard contact. So to make a defensive play on a sinking liner and then the play at home plate was huge for all of us.”

After the power burst by Freeman, the Dodgers took more pedestrian routes to tacking on single runs in the third and sixth.

In the third, Tommy Edman drew a leadoff walk, went to second on Ohtani’s ground out and raced home on Betts’ bloop single to right field. In the sixth, Gavin Lux was hit by a pitch, stole second and just beat the throw home to score on Kiké Hernandez’s single to center field.

Roberts made his bullpen calls with one eye on Tuesday’s pitching plan – and continued to make all the right choices, as he has throughout this postseason run.

But he had to survive scares in the sixth and seventh innings. Most dangerously, the Yankees put two runners on with two outs in the seventh. With Juan Soto on deck, Anthony Banda struck out Gleyber Torres when home plate umpire Mark Carlson called a 2-and-2 fastball that was clearly above the zone strike three.

“I’m not answering that,” Banda said when asked if the pitch really was a strike.

The Dodgers were one out away from their fifth shutout of this posteason (which would have tied Cleveland’s postseason record from 2016) when Alex Verdugo hit a two-run home run off of Michael Kopech.

“I think for some of the guys that were here – Kiké, Clayton (Kershaw), the coaches, Austin Barnes, I think Blake Treinen, just some guys that were here with us – we want that parade,” Roberts said, referring to the Dodgers’ last World Series championship, won on a neutral field following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. “We never got a chance to celebrate with the city of Los Angeles. That’s something of an incentive.

“But outside of that, you have an opportunity to be a world champion. So we’re right there.”