NEW YORK — An ailing right ankle isn’t preventing Freddie Freeman from making World Series history.
Freeman homered for the third game in a row, Walker Buehler pitched five scoreless innings of two-hit ball and the Dodgers moved to the brink of their eighth title with a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night.
Los Angeles leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and can clinch its second championship in five years and its first in a 162-game season since 1988 when it plays Game 4 on Tuesday.
The Yankees are trying to avoid getting swept in the World Series for the first time since 1976, when they fell to the Cincinnati Reds.
Of the 24 previous teams to win the first three games of the World Series, 21 have swept and all 24 won the championship. The last sweep occurred in 2012, when the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers.
Freeman, who dealt with a sprained right ankle in the previous two rounds of the playoffs, has the Dodgers closing in on the crown thanks to his latest long ball. He lifted a 1-2 cutter from New York starter Clarke Schmidt (0-1) into the right field seats three batters into the first.
Freeman hit his fifth career World Series homer after belting the first walk-off grand slam in Fall Classic history in Game 1 on Friday before going yard again in Game 2 on Saturday.
“Not surprised he’s performing at this level,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s been very good in the postseason throughout his career.”
Freeman struggled with his ankle, going 7-for-32 (.219) with no homers and one RBI in eight games against the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets to open the 2024 postseason. The Dodgers sat him for their National League Championship Series clincher against the Mets.
“I think it’s just the six days before (the World) Series was huge — or the five days, I think it was — that gave him a chance to kind of get out of the woods,” Roberts said.
Freeman is the third player to homer in each of the first three games of the World Series, joining Barry Bonds (2002 Giants) and Hank Bauer (1958 Yankees).
“I’ve just been seeing the ball very well,” Freeman said. “I’m obviously not missing mistakes. Hopefully we can just keep it going tomorrow. We’ve got one more.”
Buehler (1-1) allowed a one-out double by Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth and a single by Anthony Volpe later in the inning. Stanton was cut down at the plate thanks to a strong one-hop throw from left fielder Teoscar Hernandez to catcher Will Smith on Volpe’s single.
“Pretty cool for him to show off the other side of the ball and kind of put a perfect throw, and Will put the tag on,” Buehler said.
Buehler fanned five and walked two. In three career World Series starts, including one in 2018 and one in 2020, he is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA, having struck out 22 and walked three in 18 innings.
Schmidt struggled with his command and allowed three runs on two hits in 2 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked four, issuing a free pass to Shohei Ohtani to start the game ahead of Freeman’s homer.
Mookie Betts hit an RBI single in the third after Tommy Edman walked and took second on Ohtani’s groundout. Enrique Hernandez delivered an RBI single in the sixth off Jake Cousins to score Gavin Lux, who was hit in the back by a pitch and stole second.
The Yankees put two on in the bottom of the sixth against Brusdar Graterol, but Alex Vesia got Jazz Chisholm Jr. to ground into an inning-ending forceout. Dodgers left-hander Anthony Banda got a called third strike on Gleyber Torres with two on to end the seventh.
“When we have had some opportunities, we haven’t cashed in,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Ultimately, that’s (how) this comes about. You’ve got to take advantage, put one in the seats with a runner or two on and play with the lead. Or when you do get those opportunities, they’re not as frequent as maybe sometimes during the season, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”
Alex Verdugo hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth for the Yankees, but Torres then grounded out to end the game.
New York captain Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and is 6-for-43 (.140) in the postseason with 20 strikeouts.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
