World Series: Yankees lose heartbreaker to Dodgers in Game 1 on Freddie Freeman's 10th-inning grand slam

LOS ANGELES — The Yankees got Kirk Gibson’d but good.

Whether they will suffer the same fate as the A’s did 36 years ago remains to be seen.

Nestor Cortes, brought in to protect a one-run lead in the 10th inning on Friday night in Game 1 of the World Series, retired the first batter he faced, no small task in that it was presumed National League MVP Shohei Ohtani.

But after an intentional walk to Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, dealing with a sprained ankle suffered late in the regular season, hit a walk-off grand slam to send the Yankees to a crushing 6-3 loss in front of a boisterous sellout crowd of 52,394 at Dodger Stadium.

The Yankees had taken a 3-2 lead in the 10th when Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit all of .147 the first nine games of the postseason, singled with one out, stole second and third and scored on Anthony Volpe’s forceout.

With Luke Weaver having pitched 1 2⁄3 scoreless innings, closing fell to Jake Cousins, who retired Will Smith on a flyout to right. But he walked Gavin Lux and allowed an infield single by Tommy Edman, the NLCS MVP in the Dodgers’ six-game victory over the Mets.

That paved the road to the disastrous finish — from the Yankees’ perspective — that followed.

The Yankees, who received a brilliant outing from Gerrit Cole and more effective work from their bullpen, took a 2-1 lead in the sixth courtesy of Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run homer off Jack Flaherty. For Stanton, who grew up in the Los Angeles area going to Dodgers games as a child and who earned ALCS MVP honors after homering four times in that five-game series, it was his sixth homer overall of the postseason.

Gleyber Torres, who committed a critical error in the eighth that allowed Ohtani to take an extra base on his double — he wound up scoring on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly to tie it at 2-2 — doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth off Michael Kopech (a fan reached over the railing in left and snatched the ball and immediately was called for fan interference). Juan Soto was intentionally walked and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in his fifth and best reliever, righthander Blake Treinen. Aaron Judge fell behind 1-and-2 before popping to short, dropping the centerfielder to 6-for-36 with two homers in 10 games this postseason.

The Yankees went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11.

Cole, 11-6 with a 2.98 ERA in 20 career postseason starts, again showed the spotlight that comes with this time of year was not too much for him. The righthander allowed one run and four hits in six innings-plus in which he struck out four and did not walk a batter.

Flaherty, awful in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, was pretty good himself, allowing two runs and five hits in 5 1⁄3 innings in which he walked one and struck out six.

Cole, hit hard in the first but not much thereafter, retired 11 in a row before Enrique Hernandez lined an 0-and-2, 97-mph fastball down the rightfield line, just out of reach of Soto, for a one-out triple in the fifth. Smith’s sacrifice fly to right made it 1-0.

The Yankees came right back. Soto led off the sixth with a line-drive single to center. Judge got ahead 2-and-0 before striking out on a full-count, 94-mph fastball. But Stanton, after falling behind 0-and-2, destroyed a curveball to left for a 2-1 lead. The 412-foot blast gave Stanton 37 RBIs in 37 career postseason games, including 36 RBIs in his last 31.

Edman led off the bottom half by roping a double into the corner in right. Ohtani’s groundout to short moved Edman to third, but Cole stranded him. With the infield in, Betts hit a sharp grounder directly to Chisholm and Freeman flied to right for the third out.

Teoscar Hernandez won an eight-pitch at-bat to start the seventh, after going down 0-and-2, and Boone brought in Clay Holmes. The righthander hit Max Muncy with a 2-and-0 slider and Enrique Hernandez’s sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third. Holmes got Smith, swinging at a first-pitch, 98-mph sinker, to pop to short and Kahnle came in to face the lefty-hitting Lux. Two pitches later, the Yankees were back in the dugout after a soft grounder to second.

Kahnle retired Edman to start the eighth but Ohtani lasered a 0-and-1 changeup off the middle of the wall in right for a double. Torres muffed Soto’s relay throw in, with the error allowing Ohtani to take third.

Weaver, who appeared in eight previous games this postseason and pitched in more than one inning in five of those, came on to face Betts. The rightfielder lifted a sacrifice fly to center to tie it at 2-2.