Freddie Freeman celebrates his game-winning grand slam. @Dodgers. |
Friday night at Dodger Stadium began with the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring a hero of their 1981 World Championship team, Fernando Valenzuela, who died on Tuesday, it ended the way the 1988 World Series began for them.
Where it was Kirk Gibson then, the left-handed hitting slugger who played through pain and buried the Oakland Athletics with a walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley, this time, it was Freddie Freeman, who has played all postseason through an ankle injury, and hit a walk-off grand slam to beat the Yankees 6-3 in 10 innings in Game 1 of the World Series.
This game went like most have for the Yankees in the postseason. Giancarlo Stanton provided nearly all their offense with a two-run home run in the sixth inning - which basically chased Los Angeles starting pitcher Jack Flaherty from the game - that put them up 2-1 at the time.
Their ace, Gerrit Cole, had a solid start, as he allowed just one run on four hits and no walks, with four strikeouts, in six innings, and the bullpen, even though it surrendered the lead in the eighth inning - when Shohei Ohtani doubled off Tommy Kahnle and scored when Mookie Betts hit a sacrifice fly against Luke Weaver - kept it a tie game into the tenth.
Stanton opened the tenth inning by striking out against Blake Treinen, and then Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled.
Then, because Los Angeles was not paying any attention to him, Chisholm Jr. stole second and third bases with one out. This set him up to come home on a hit up the middle by Anthony Volpe that had just enough on it to force shortstop Tommy Edman to only get the force out at second base.
Entering the bottom of the 10th inning up 3-2, and the Yankees having already gone through Clay Holmes, Kahnle, and Weaver, they turned to Jake Cousins.
The right-hander started the frame by getting Will Smith to fly out to right field before he walked Gavin Lux and gave up a single to Edman.
The Yankees, showing how thin their bullpen is, chose to go to starting pitcher Nestor Cortes, who had not pitched since mid-September, instead of Tim Hill for Ohtani.
Initially, the gambit worked, as Cortes got Ohtani to pop up along the left field line, with Alex Verdugo making the running grab and crashing into the seats for the second out.
Then, the Yankees elected to walk Mookie Betts to load the bases and get to Freddie Freeman.
The second I started to think they should have just pitched to Betts, Freeman crushed a no-doubter to right field for the game-winning grand slam.
This move did not make all that much sense, as Cortes is known for his ability to jam right-handed hitters, so it's questionable why they elected to not have him take on Betts.
Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of the decision to face Freeman, "Just taking the left-on-left matchup there. No, I didn't deliberate long."
On the decision to go to Cortes, Boone said, "Just liked the matchup. The reality is he's been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he's gotten ready for this. I knew with one out there, it would be tough to double up Shohei if Tim Hill gets him on the ground and then Mookie behind him is a tough matchup there. So felt convicted with Nestor in that spot."
One also couldn't have avoided thinking back to when Cortes closed out a game in early September against the Chicago Cubs, when the Yankees were seeking for options to figure out their late-game relief plan entering the playoffs once they realized they couldn't rely on then-closer Clay Holmes.
After that game, instead of being thrilled with how he pitched, Cortes said, "Obviously I was upset. I felt like I've been, amongst all the starters, the workhorse here."
Who knew how prescient Cortes' words would be, and on a far more important stage.
And of course, if Freeman's home run evoked memories of 1988, they also beat the same team to make that World Series, the Mets.
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