Three takeaways from Yankees' World Series Game 4 win over Dodgers
The Yankees kept their season alive on Tuesday night with a 11-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. Here are three takeaways:
1. Fans brought the energy
The crowd was into it, which was somewhat surprising considering the Yankees were down 0-3 in the series and the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the first on another Freddie Freeman home run.
Yankee Stadium crowds are famous — some would say infamous — for being tough on their own players. But on this night, the fans seemed to be supporting their struggling players, especially Aaron Judge.
The Yankees came back with a run in the second and, of course, four in the third on Anthony Volpe’s grand slam to take a 5-2 lead.
From then, it was a Bronx party, and the fans were rewarded with another game on Wednesday night.
“I was just glad because it felt like the fans were so ready to erupt [Monday] night,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It's like you finally got to see the top blow off Yankee Stadium in a World Series game.”
The Yankees tried a lot of fake noise to get the crowd pumped up before their 4-2 loss on Monday, including a mini-concert by Fat Joe that many observers felt paled in comparison to the one the Dodgers staged with Ice Cube before Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.
There is always so much noise at Yankee Stadium. On Tuesday, with the Yankees facing elimination and a possible sweep, the fans brought the noise themselves.
2. Yankees save some Weaver
The Yankees’ five-run eighth allowed Boone to lift Luke Weaver after the closer had recorded four outs (three strikeouts) in 1 1/3 perfect innings. Weaver struck out Mookie Betts for the final out of the seventh and then fanned two in a perfect eighth.
Boone was able to replace Weaver with Tim Mayza for the ninth, saving some Weaver pitches for Wednesday.
It also spared Boone of having to possibly make a move he didn’t make in Game 1: keeping Weaver in for another inning after the Yankees took a 3-2 lead in the 10th inning.
Weaver had thrown 1 2/3 innings (19 pitches) in Game 1. But with a chance to steal the opener, Boone went to Jake Cousins to start the 10th.
That did not end well for the Yankees as Freeman hit a two-out, walk-off grand slam off Nestor Cortes.
3. Judge has a better night
Aaron Judge didn’t have a big night, but he was on base four times on a walk, a hit by pitch, an error by shortstop Tommy Edman and a tack-on RBI single to left for the final run in the Yankees’ five-run eighth. It has often been said that the Yankees go as Judge goes, but for one night he was content to just be along for the ride. And he didn’t strike out.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
