LOS ANGELES -- The buses pulled into the Dodger Stadium parking lot early on Friday, tracing the route they intended to follow last autumn. Back then, the Yankees had everything riding on their return to Southern California, even displaying a flight itinerary on the clubhouse televisions at Yankee Stadium. A disastrous fifth inning in World Series Game 5 left those jet wheels parked on the tarmac.
Nothing that happens in this late May rematch of the Fall Classic will rewrite that ending -- only another October showdown can begin to do that. But to borrow a phrase from Yogi Berra, this contest served up a hearty helping of “déjà vu all over again” -- an early advantage frittered away in midgame en route to an 8-5 loss at Chavez Ravine.
"Obviously, a big core group of [the Dodgers] won the World Series last year. They know how to win games,” said left-hander Max Fried, who was charged with six runs and eight hits over five-plus innings, his roughest outing as a Yankee thus far. “The guys did a great job tonight, putting up early runs. For the most part, I just didn’t do my job.”
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani traded thunder in the first inning, becoming the first reigning Most Valuable Players to homer in the first frame of the same game. That heavyweight introduction set the tone for an opening act that convincingly belonged to the visitors: “A couple of big haymakers” out of the gate, as manager Aaron Boone put it.
Austin Wells, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt all homered, roughing up Tony Gonsolin in what looked like a mismatch against Fried, who pitched to his razor-thin ERA through the first five frames, even with Ohtani parking his first pitch over the wall.
Everything seemed to be going the Yanks’ way, especially after Judge’s highlight-reel defensive play in the third, going full extension to rob Teoscar Hernández of extra bases.
“Judgie had a great game with a homer and a double, and an outstanding play in the gap,” Boone said. “Some of the stars were really showing tonight.”
They were, but the lights dimmed quickly. Back in Game 5, it had been a fifth-inning collapse, sparked by Judge muffing a routine fly ball. Here, Ohtani began the comeback in the sixth, sending Judge trotting back to the right-field wall in helpless pursuit of his second homer of the game.
"I thought I had a chance off the bat: I was like, ‘OK, this is going to be one at the wall, or [maybe] rob it,’” Judge said. “But it just kept carrying out. That’s why he’s one of the best home run hitters out there.”
Fried continued to toil, but three more hits followed, including Freddie Freeman’s run-scoring double. He’d previously allowed one run or fewer in eight of his last 10 starts; with the outing, Fried’s road ERA swelled from 0.83 to 2.15 (9 ER in 37 2/3 IP).
"Mostly, it was just execution, leaving balls in the middle of the plate,” Fried said. “I wasn’t going to the locations I wanted to, and when you’re facing a good team with good hitters, they’re going to make you pay for it.”
Boone emerged from the dugout, and it was the brand of pitching change he hadn’t yet needed to make with regards to the first-year Yankee lefty; runners on, Fried in trouble, lead in jeopardy.
“I don’t think he had the breaking ball going tonight,” Boone said. “In that inning, he just left some pitches in the heart of the plate to some really good hitters.”
Andy Pages tied the game, drilling a run-scoring single past shortstop Anthony Volpe through the drawn-in infield.
Los Angeles grabbed its first lead when Tim Hill issued a bases-loaded walk to Michael Conforto, and Pages padded the score in the seventh with a two-run single off Yerry De los Santos. The Bombers got traffic on the bases, but L.A.’s relief crew ensured they never landed a punch.
“We didn’t really feel a momentum shift,” Judge said. “There was a lot of ballgame left. We just weren’t able to capitalize late when we got a couple of guys on.”
Grisham’s clean single in the ninth preceded three quick outs and a Dodgers celebration, much more muted than the last one the Yankees refused to watch.
When the clubhouse doors swung open a few minutes later, Fried was still fuming under his hooded sweatshirt -- already ticking down the minutes until his next mound assignment, it seemed.
“I’m a competitor; I want to go out there and win,” Fried said. “The fact that we had a lead and I gave it up … it’s not going to sit well with me. But you’ve got to be able to use this as motivation to go out next time and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”