World Series: This was a game the Yankees may live to regret

 LOS ANGELES

Technically, there are no must-wins when it comes to Game 1 of a World Series. But for the Yankees on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, it sure felt that way, right up to the 10th inning, when Nestor Cortes’ second pitch in five weeks, a fastball to Freddie Freeman, landed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

How the Yankees got to Freeman’s walk-off grand slam, which gave the Dodgers a 6-3 victory, is something that probably haunted them on the bus ride back to the hotel and kept them awake much later.

The chain of events that squandered a solid start by ace Gerrit Cole, another huge homer by Giancarlo Stanton and even the manufactured go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning must have been extremely unsettling in retrospect.

The Yankees had Game 1. And then they didn’t. Courtesy of Gleyber Torres muffing a relay throw that set up Mookie Betts’ tying sacrifice fly in the eighth, Aaron Judge again coming up small this October and then the riskiest of dice rolls in manager Aaron Boone calling on a defrosted Cortes at the highest-leverage moment.

Add that all up, and it’s the first time the Yankees have trailed in a series this postseason. Now, however, they’re up against an equal foe in the Dodgers — not the glass-jawed AL Central — so this is a bit more difficult to shrug off, as much as the Yankees tried to put on a brave face in the clubhouse after the game.

“We had our opportunities to put them away,” Judge said. “Just weren’t able to do it, and they came up with a big clutch hit there at the end.”

That’s the understatement of the month. Judge alone could have swung the outcome, but he whiffed in his first three trips to the plate and popped up to strand a pair of runners in the ninth.

That final at-bat was teed up to be Judge’s signature World Series moment, the one he’s waited a career for. The Dodgers even intentionally walked Juan Soto to set the stage with two outs. But in came Blake Treinen, and Judge just missed a very hittable 94-mph fastball that got plenty of plate.

“Just got underneath it a little bit,” he said. “So wish I could get that one back.”

The Yankees were saying that a lot Friday night. Sending out Cole, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, was their biggest advantage in this World Series, as the best the Dodgers could counter with was Jack Flaherty, who was last seen getting shelled by the Mets in the NLCS. Cole did his part, allowing one run in six innings, but the bullpen ultimately got beaten by the Dodgers’ best: Shohei Ohtani, Betts and, of course, Freeman.

In the eighth, Ohtani hit a laser double off Tommy Kahnle, then hustled to third when Torres clanged the relay throw off his glove. Boone then went to his savior, Luke Weaver, for what was shaping up to be a five-out save, but he didn’t get very far. Betts followed with the tying sacrifice fly and Cole’s 88-pitch effort was vaporized.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We played a good ballgame. Obviously, they did just enough to win.”

There’s no time for moral victories now. Or costly mistakes. And the Yankees kept kicking away their comebacks, too.

After Cole fell behind 1-0, it was Stanton to the rescue again. He was fresh off earning MVP honors in the ALCS, when all four of his hits were home runs, but immediately fell behind 0-and-2 with two wild swings at breaking pitches well below the strike zone.

Stanton took a fastball, then Flaherty went back to his 80-mph knuckle curve, figuring he could get him to chase another pitch at his shins.

Flaherty got what he wanted — sort of. While Stanton did take a swing, he connected this time, blasting a 412-foot homer that soared so high, it almost disappeared from view before finally crash-landing in the leftfield stands.

In the 10th, Jazz Chisholm Jr. — who had struggled during this postseason — singled and stole two bases before giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead on Anthony Volpe’s forceout grounder to short.

But there was too much baseball left, and when Jake Cousins couldn’t take care of the bottom of the Dodgers’ order in the 10th, that put Ohtani in play.

Boone chose to go with the rusty Cortes over lefty option Tim Hill, and it appeared a genius move when Cortes got Ohtani on a first-pitch foul pop — thanks to a great lunging catch by Alex Verdugo, who flipped into the stands.

Both runners were awarded a base, putting men on second and third. The intentional walk to Betts was an easy decision, but Freeman hammered Cortes’ next pitch halfway up the bleachers.

“The reality is he’s been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he’s gotten ready for this,” Boone said. “So I felt convicted with Nestor in that spot.”

And with Freeman’s one swing, Boone’s masterful decision-making this October abruptly came to an end. At the worst possible time. Over a few inches.

“I thought it got to the inside of the plate where I wanted it to,” said Cortes, who hadn’t appeared in a game since Sept. 18. “But didn’t get it up enough.”

Freeman certainly did. And now it’s the Yankees’ first uphill climb of this October.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.