BRONX, NY — The Yankees live to fight another day.
Behind Anthony Volpe’s third-inning grand slam turned Game 4 of the World Series on its head, New York stymied what appeared to be unstoppable Los Angeles Dodgers momentum and, more importantly for the Bronx Bombers, extended their season for one more day.
The Yankees defeated Los Angeles 11-4 on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium to avoid elimination while cutting their seemingly insurmountable World Series deficit to 3-games-to-1. This is the first time a team trailing 3-0 in a World Series won Game 4 since 1970.
“We just want to keep putting pressure on them,” Volpe said. “I think everyone had confidence in everyone in the lineup that someone was going to get the big hit.”
In the face of an expected Dodgers pushback, the Yankees’ bullpen held firm as Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr., and Luke Weaver held the powerhouse visitors scoreless between the sixth and eighth innings to provide the offense enough time to blow it open.
“It took a little bit of the burden off, the weight,” closer Luke Weaver, who got the last out of the seventh and pitched the eighth, said. “… The eighth inning was a beautiful one.”
Catcher Austin Wells added a solo shot in the sixth before Gleyber Torres’ game-breaking three-run jack in a five-run eighth to headline a night in which the Yankees’ offense finally woke up. They were limited to just seven runs across the first three games of the series.
“I think we just kind of needed to say screw it and go after it and have fun because some guys may never come back to the World Series again,” Wells said. “So enjoying the game, I think that allowed us to play a lot looser tonight.”
For the second straight night, Freddie Freeman put the Dodgers ahead in the top of the first inning with a two-run home run off Yankees starter Luis Gil, lining a slider just over the wall and into the porch in right field.
The veteran first baseman, who now has two World Series titles to his name after winning with the Atlanta Braves in 2021, hit a home run in each of the four games of the series and extended his streak to a record-breaking six straight games dating back to that 2021 Fall Classic. The previous record was held by George Springer of the Houston Astros between the 2017 and 2019 World Series.
“My first thought is this guy is superhuman,” Weaver said as he watched Freeman’s blast from the bullpen. “This guy is doing something we’ve seen for years, right? He’s a pretty good big-league player, and you’re sitting there marveling at what he’s doing. You have to give him all the respect and the appreciation for what he’s doing on the biggest stage.”
An eventful bottom of the first inning that saw a Yankees fan rip a ball from Mookie Betts in right field after making a leaping catch in foul territory on a Gleyber Torres flyout also featured another squandered scoring chance.
Following consecutive walks to Juan Soto and Aaron Judge with one out, Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton — who were flipped in the lineup by manager Aaron Boone — grounded out to get Dodgers opener Ben Casparius out of it.
The Yankees got on the board in the second when Alex Verdugo’s groundout to first scored Volpe from third. The New York shortstop walked and stole second but misread Wells’ double and only moved up 90 feet.
Volpe made up for the base-running gaffe and then some in the bottom of the third when he gave the Yankees their first lead since Game 1. Reliever Daniel Hudson hit Judge, allowed a single to Chisholm, and walked Giancarlo Stanton to load the bases.
After Anthony Rizzo popped out for the second out of the frame, Volpe jumped on a first-pitch slider low in the zone and lined it out over the left-center field fence for his first-career postseason home run — the ninth-ever Yankee grand slam at the World Series — to give the hosts a 5-2 lead.
“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,” Volpe said.
“It was huge,” Boone added. “More good at-bats from him tonight… I thought he got a really good swing off.”
The Dodgers pulled back two in the fourth to make it a one-run game and drive Gil from the hill. Will Smith led off with an opposite-field fly that just cleared the short fence in right-center. The 364-foot round-tripper would have only been a home run in Yankee Stadium and nowhere else in the majors.
Tommy Edman walked and advanced to third following a Shohei Ohtani single and a fielder’s choice. He scored after Freeman narrowly beat out what would have been an inning-ending double play — the first baseman’s third RBI of the night.
Wells restored some breathing room in the sixth with a lead-off solo home run off of reliever Landon Knack into the second deck in right field. Entering Tuesday night 4-for-43 in the postseason, the Yankee catcher collected a pair of extra-base hits in Game 4.
Volpe sparked the five-run eighth inning off Brent Honeywell when he stretched a single into a double, stole third, and beat Gavin Lux’s throw home from second base on a grounder to plate the Yankees’ seventh run of the night. Torres broke it open with a three-run shot to right-center to put the game to bed.
The struggling Judge drove in Soto, who doubled after Torres’ blast, with a single for just his second hit of the World Series.
