Yankees' dreams of a World Series championship on life support following Game 3 loss to Dodgers
NEW YORK -- As far as the New York Yankees are concerned, the only thing left is a miracle.
The Los Angeles Dodgers moved within one win of their second World Series championship in five years and eighth overall with a 4-2 victory in Game 3 on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series. In fact, no team facing that hole has ever forced a seventh game.
Much has been made of the Yankees' quest for a 28th world championship. Of their 13 losses in the World Series, three have come by sweep, including in 1963 against the Dodgers.
"Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "But right now it's about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we've got to grab one first."
Game 4 is set for 8:08 p.m. on Tuesday, with rookie right-hander Luis Gil tasked with helping to keep the Yankees' season alive. With a seemingly insurmountable lead, the Dodgers have the luxury of avoiding using Game 1 starter Jack Flaherty on short rest and instead will pitch a bullpen game.
Clark Schmidt just didn't have it in Game 3
As is usually the case in the postseason, pitching and timely hitting told the story in Game 3. Dodgers starter Walker Buehler pitched five excellent innings, while his counterpart, the Yankees' Clarke Schmidt, struggled with his command from the outset and was gone before the end of the third.
Making the biggest start of his young career, Schmidt did not look ready for the moment. With one out in the first inning and Shohei Ohtani on first, courtesy of a four-pitch walk, the 28-year-old right-hander threw a 1-2 fastball into Freddie Freeman's wheelhouse that the veteran first baseman pulled into the seats in right for his third home run of the Series.
"When you come into a road park, you want to try to strike early and quiet the crowd, and we were able to do that in the first inning," Freeman said.
Things got worse for Schmidt in the third. With one out, Mookie Betts fought off several pitches before blooping a single to right in front of Juan Soto, scoring Tommy Edman, who had walked to open the frame. Freeman followed with a five-pitch walk and with two outs Max Muncy worked another free pass to load the bases and end Schmidt's night after 68 pitches. Mark Leiter Jr., however, came on and got Will Smith to bounce back to the mound, keeping the score at 3-0.
Leiter proved to not be immune to the leadoff walk, as he put Gavin Lux on to open the fourth. Kiké Hernandez followed with a single to right, sending Lux to third. Edman then put down a squeeze bunt, but Leiter flipped the ball to catcher Jose Trevino who tagged out Lux. The Dodgers challenged, but the replay wasn't enough to overturn the call.
Nestor Cortes came on and ended the threat by striking out Ohtani on a 3-2 slider and getting Betts to fly out to left.
The Dodgers made it 4-0 in the sixth. With one out, Yankees reliever Jake Cousins hit Lux, who then stole second and scored on Hernandez's single up the middle.
Alex Verdugo hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth to cut the Yankees' deficit to two, but Gleyber Torres grounded out to short to end it.
The Yankees have struggled mightily at the plate
The Yankees did nothing against Buehler over the first three innings, managing just a pair of walks by Torres. The frustration really mounted in the fourth, when Giancarlo Stanton, after lining a one-out double to left, was gunned down at home by the Dodgers' Teoscar Hernandez following a two-out single by Anthony Volpe.
"It's weird. For me, I think the playoffs, big games, that's always been the only thing I really cared about," Buehler said. "I was kind of awful all year. I think once you get to the playoffs, the adrenaline, I think whatever fear I had about my elbow or trying to throw a certain pitch or whatever goes away, because it's all now, it's all go. It's helped me I think."
Buehler was removed after five innings, despite throwing only 76 pitches. The Dodgers, however, have a deep bullpen and they showed as much, limiting the Yankees to just three hits the rest of the way.
Aaron Judge, who will likely win his second AL MVP Award at season's end, finished 0 for 3 with a walk and is now 1 for 12 (.083) with no RBIs and seven strikeouts in the Series and is hitting .140 with 20 strikeouts in this postseason.
"Come ready to go tomorrow," Boone said of his superstar's struggles. "He's Aaron Judge, and just continue to work and hopefully get on time and connect on some."
But it's not just Judge not hitting. Through three games, the Yankees' bottom four hitters are a combined 6 for 43 (.140) with three RBIs. Yankees hitters overall are 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position.
