The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to 3-2 in elimination games this October as they failed to complete a sweep of the New York Yankees in Game 4.
The Yankees lineup came alive, including pulling away late, for an 11-4 win.
A fourth planned bullpen game of the postseason did not yield desired results for the Dodgers as Ben Casparius was not sharp in his opener role and Daniel Hudson struggled upon taking over.
Casparius made his first career start at the Major League level — counting the regular season and playoffs — and pitched two innings and allowed just one run.
Casparius exited with the Dodgers leading 2-1 thanks to Freddie Freeman extending his World Series home run streak to an MLB record six games.
Freeman’s historic stretch began with two homers during the 2021 World Series as a member of the Atlanta Braves.
The Dodgers’ lead evaporated when Hudson took over in the third inning as he struggled to locate pitches. A hit by pitch, single and walk loaded the bases, which Anthony Volpe took advantage of by hitting a go-ahead grand slam.
Given the deficit, albeit a modest one, and with a third game in a row looming on Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts relied on low-leverage options out of the bullpen.
Landon Knack entered in the fourth and provided xx key innings. He wasn’t particularly sharp, but held the Yankees to just a solo home run by Austin Wells.
That allowed the Dodgers’ offense multiple opportunities to come from behind but they never managed to break through. Included in that was Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts both representing the tying run at the plate in the seventh inning.
Mark Leiter Jr. got Ohtani to chase out of the zone and Luke Weaver struck out Betts to end the threat. Weaver collected three strikeouts over 1.1 innings.
He was primed to pitch the ninth as well but the Yankees broke the game open with five runs against Brent Honeywell in the bottom of the eighth inning.
World Series history benefits Dodgers
In all best-of-seven matchups in MLB playoff history, teams taking a 3-0 lead have gone on to win the series 39 of 40 times (98%), including 31 sweeps. In addition to the 2004 Boston Red Sox, only the 2020 Houston Astros have even forced a Game 7 after falling into a 3-0 series deficit.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
