Yankees-Dodgers World Series: Three takeaways from Game 1 

LOS ANGELES — In their first World Series game in a decade and a half, the Yankees suffered an agonizing defeat Friday night.

They lost to the Dodgers, 6-3, on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam against Nestor Cortes with two outs in the 10th inning, an instant classic to begin the Fall Classic.

“It’s a great game,” Anthony Rizzo said. “A great opening act to the World Series.”

Here are three takeaways heading into Game 2, which is set for 8 p.m. ET Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

1. The Yankees won’t get away with ugly baseball against the Dodgers.

As they cruised down the fast lane — i.e., through the AL Central — on the way to the World Series, there was an underlying sense that the Yankees, for as quickly as they dispatched Kansas City and Cleveland, were not playing their best baseball. They were capable of better, but they survived and advanced, which ultimately was all they needed.

Facing the Dodgers is different. If you blow it on the small stuff, they will make you pay, which is exactly what happened in Game 1.

Two standout moments: Alex Verdugo got fooled by Freeman's first-inning hit — ruled a triple — when it kicked off a side wall and by him in leftfield. And In the eighth, Gleyber Torres failed to cleanly receive a throw on Shohei Ohtani’s double, allowing Ohtani to advance to third and score the tying run on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly.

“Once there's no play, you can really retreat and give ground and get a long hop,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But he still got a short hop. You've just got to secure it there.”

In the 10th, Anthony Rizzo stopped well short of second base on Anthony Volpe's run-scoring forceout to shortstop Tommy Edman, handing the Dodgers an out in a situation in which they weren't necessarily going to get one. Rizzo said he paused because he didn't want to get tagged out.

2. Aaron Judge is just not good right now.

His final line Friday: 1-for-5 with three strikeouts and — with the game on the line — a pop-up to shortstop, stranding two runners on base in the ninth inning.

In the moment, did it feel as if the surefire AL MVP, in his current state, was going to come through?

Judge hit the ball hard but basically straight up. Tommy Edman camped underneath it for several seconds. The would-be rally ended, and an inning later, the game followed.

Obviously, the Yankees need more from their best player. Despite homering in consecutive ALCS contests, Judge is batting .167 with a .665 OPS in 10 postseason games. He has more strikeouts (16) than total bases (13).

3. The Yankees’ starter advantage appears diminished for the next couple of games.

Entering the World Series, the Yankees’ clearest advantage stemmed from the rotation. They have a healthy, adept stable of arms, headed by ace Gerrit Cole, who held the Dodgers to one run in six innings-plus in Game 1. The Dodgers have three guys — not even enough for a shorter postseason rotation — whom they hope to get five innings from any given night.

So the Yankees really, really needed to win the Cole game. It didn’t happen, through no fault of his. They’ll get another chance in Game 5, but who knows what the series will look like by then?

Game 2 seems more even on the mound: Carlos Rodon versus Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Then the Yankees will roll out Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil, with the Dodgers countering with Walker Buehler and a bullpen game (in some order).

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.