Yankees win World Series Game 4 2024

NEW YORK – Anthony Volpe's wildest baseball dreams as a boy from New Jersey didn't end with his beloved Yankees being defeated in the World Series.

“We've been through so much all year,” said Volpe, who became the first player in World Series history to record four RBIs and two steals in a game. “We won’t go down easily at all.”

Instead, faced with the prospect of becoming the first Yankees team to be defeated in the World Series since 1976, the Bronx Bombers provided a necessary reminder of why this fall classic, with No. 1 seeds and iconic franchises, is getting so many looks and stuff attracted a lot of flowery reporting in the first place.

The Volpe ruck, an effective night for the bullpen and late-inning insurance that included long balls from Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres saved them and kept the Dodgers' champagne on ice.

“You finally got to see,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “the top hit from Yankee Stadium in a World Series game.”

Of the 41 teams to fall 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, the Yankees are just the 10th to ever avoid a sweep. Of the previous nine to do so, four managed to force a Game 6 and two managed to force a Game 7, although neither occurred in the World Series. One was the 2020 Astros, who lost Game 7 in the ALCS to the Rays, and one was the 2004 Red Sox, who famously came back to beat the Yankees in the ALCS. The Yankees become the first team since the Reds beat the Orioles in 1970 to force a Game 5 in a 3-0 loss in a World Series.

“I don’t think anyone expected this [the Yankees] to lie down,” Dodgers captain Dave Roberts said. “We had some offense that I thought could have been better, but we knew it was a bullpen game. As far as results go, I feel good to have six people in my stable who are feeling good and rested. And being 3-1 up, yes.”

Incredibly and unimaginably, the scoring began in Game 4 with a home run by Freddie Freeman.

Well, maybe that's believable and conceivable at this point, but it still can't be overstated how crazy Freeman's performance was on this series stage.

When Freeman hit a slider from Luis Gil in the first and hit it to the short porch to right for the two-run shot that made it 2-0, it was his fourth home run in as many games in the series. He joined George Springer (2017) of the Astros as the only players to hit four straight games in a single World Series, and he extended his personal World Series home run streak to a record six games The Braves go back to 2021.

At that moment, as the Yankee Stadium crowd was once again silenced by Freeman's first-inning fireworks display, it seemed like the right time to engrave his name on the MVP trophy and prepare for the Dodgers' postgame party. After all, the Yankees hadn't led in a game since just before Freeman's walk-off salami in Game 1, and they left two runners on the bottom of the first in this game to add to their pain.

“It was a good ballgame,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ feelings, “until it wasn’t.”

The game began to turn towards the end of the second.

Volpe issued a walk to Ben Casparius and took second before Wells hit a double to the centerfield wall. Volpe could have easily scored on this play, but he mistakenly hung near second base to ensure the ball wasn't caught. He only came in third place. Regardless, Alex Verdugo brought him in with a groundout to make it 2-1.

In the following inning, Volpe more than made up for his baserunning gaffe. While Hudson was on the mound, Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled to put runners on the corners and then grabbed second. Giancarlo Stanton left. The foundations were filled for Volpe, who idolized Derek Jeter as a child and now had the opportunity to be like Captain Clutch. And on Hudson's first pitch, Volpe delivered a no-doubt grand slam over the left field wall to light up the Bronx and give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

“I think I pretty much fainted,” Volpe said, “as soon as I saw it go over the fence.”

But as we saw in Game 1, the Dodgers don't die easily. Catcher Will Smith hit a home run off Gil in the fifth, then Tommy Edman drew a walk. The Yankees went into their box and groundball left-hander Tim Hill was called out. The Dodgers put runners on the corners with one out and Freeman was ready to bat. Hill got the ground ball he wanted, but second baseman Torres' throw to Volpe at the second base bag to try to set up a possible double play was a little high, and although Volpe's subsequent throw to first base initially got away with it deemed to have struck out Freeman. The bag for the inning-ending DP was overturned by a retest.

Edman scored safely from third to make the game a one-run score, 5-4.

It stayed that way until Wells sent a fastball from Landon Knack over the right field wall for a solo shot in the sixth inning. And in the eighth, against Brent Honeywell, the Yankees got a lot more security when Verdugo moved to second with two runners in scoring position, where Gavin Lux's throw home didn't reach in time to give up the rushing, slipping Volpe. Then Torres stepped up and blasted a three-run shot to right-center, and after a double from Juan Soto, the slumping Judge got the lift he needed when he lined an RBI single to left.

“I feel like it really just takes a big swing, and I feel like that was Volpe's big swing there,” Wells said. “It allowed everyone to take a deep breath and have fun. I also think that in the situation we were in, we just had to say, ‘Screw it,’ and move on and have fun, because some guys might never get back to the World Series.”

On a day when the Dodgers were trying to force their way to the title with an all-relief effort, the Yankees adjusted to the composition of their forces and got big outs from their own relievers (no bigger than Mark Leiter Jr. ). Shohei Ohtani and Luke Weaver (K'ing Mookie Betts with a runner on second in the seventh) and kept their season alive.

“It was just a big game,” Volpe said. “We just wanted to win 1-0 today and win today and see where it takes us.”