Freddie Freeman could barely run Friday. He didn’t need to.
Freeman, who’s been in and out of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup the entire month of October with an ankle injury, ended Game 1 of the World Series with a 10th-inning grand slam against New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr.
The Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts ahead of Freeman, a left-handed hitter, with the left-hander Cortes on the mound.
More news: Dodgers Fan Makes Incredible Catch of Yankee’s Near-Home Run
That loaded the bases for Freeman, whose home run lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory.
So it was that the Dodgers struck first in a World Series pitting two of baseball’s most storied franchises against each other for the first time in 43 years.
The Yankees were leading 3-2 when a walk by Gavin Lux, and a single by Tommy Edman, put runners on first and second with one out in the 10th inning. Edman was the last of three batters faced by right-hander Jake Cousins, who gave way to Cortes with left-handed hitting slugger Shohei Ohtani due up.
Ohtani saw one pitch from Cortes and skied it to left field, where Alex Verdugo made an incredible catch leaning over the short fence.
Freeman finished 2 for 5 with a triple and a home run.
Alex Slitz/Getty Images
For a moment, it appeared the Yankees would end Game 1 in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Gleyber Torres sent a fly ball screaming 383 feet toward left field, only to see it come to the rest in the glove of a Dodger fan who reached over the fence. Ruled a double as a result of fan interference, the Yankees could not score and the game proceeded to the 10th inning tied 2-2.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. got the run back the hard way — with his feet.
In the top of the 10th inning Chisholm singled with one out against Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen, then stole second base and third base to put himself 90 feet from home plate.
When Anthony Volpe’s ground ball was too hot for Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman to get out of his glove in time turn into a double play, Chisholm scored from third base.
The Dodgers scored the game’s first run in the fifth inning on a triple by Kiké Hernández followed by a sacrifice fly by Will Smith. That was the only run Yankees starter Gerrit Cole allowed in six innings of work.
Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a two-run home run Los Angeles right-hander Jack Flaherty in the top of the sixth inning. The Dodgers got the run back when Shohei Ohtani doubled, went to third base on an error, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Betts in the eighth inning.
In the end, it was Freeman who played the hero. Held out of the Dodgers’ lineup for Games 4 and 6 of the National League Championship Series because of his ankle, he became the first player ever to end a World Series game with a grand slam in his team’s final at-bat.
“It felt like nothing, just kind of floating,” he said of the feeling rounding the bases. “That’s as good as it gets right there.”
More to come on this story from Newsweek Sports.
