Comeback Dodgers come back home as champions

10/30/2024 11:55 PM

Down 5-0, the Dodgers win 7-6 in New York and return to Los Angeles with the Commissioner's Trophy.

In a game they had no business winning in a World Series they had no intention of giving away, the Dodgers came back. Using every pitcher they reasonably had available and then some, Los Angeles capitalized on just enough chances to stun the Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium and win the championship.

The back-and-forth game was a sloppy mess at times, but in the eighth inning the Dodgers trailed by a run. But they got two singles and a walk off Tommy Kahnle to load the based with nobody out. In came closer Luke Weaver, working his third day in a row, and the Dodgers got two sacrifice flies, mixing in a walk and catcher's interference in between.

Once down 5-0, the Dodgers had their first lead of the game.

The stayed with Blake Treinen, who already recorded four outs, to pitch the eighth against the heart of the order. He gave up a one-out double to Aaron Judge and walked Jazz Chisholm Jr., prompting a mound visit from Dave Roberts, but not with a hook.

Instead, Treinen got Giancarlo Stanton to fly out then struck out Anthony Rizzo. Treinen threw 42 pitches in his 2⅓ scoreless innings, in his longest outing since 2018.

That got the Dodgers through eight innings, but they were out of pitchers at that point, feasibly.

Jack Flaherty simply had nothing, recording only four outs in his one trip through the lineup. He didn't earn the right to face another hitter, with home runs by Judge and Chisholm against him in the first inning and another two hits and a run in the second.

Flaherty, the Dodgers' prized acquisition at the trade deadline, has alternated between good and terrible this postseason, with the scales tipped more toward the latter in October thanks to 18 total runs allowed in 22 innings. Twice he took the mound with a chance to clinch a series in New York, and twice he was battered around.

In Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, Flaherty was left in for a disastrous five-run third inning and left trailing by seven. Roberts was much more aggressive on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, pulling the right-hander after just nine batters, down four runs with another runner on base.

Roberts managed Game 4 on Tuesday — with a smaller deficit, and even a lead when the first bullpen move was made in the third inning — to save his six highest-leverage relievers in Game 5, and they were all used by the sixth inning in this one.

Gerrit Cole covered the first six innings all by himself and even got the first two outs of the seventh. His only runs allowed were all unearned, in a five-run fifth in which Cole induced what should have been six outs. One clanked off Judge's glove, and on another Anthony Volpe tried in vain to get the lead runner and got nobody. But the biggest gaffe was Holmes not covering first base on what should have been a groundout to first base by Mookie Betts.

Instead it was a single, and opened the door for a two-run single by Freddie Freeman — his 12 RBI this series tied Bobby Richardson's World Series record from 1960 — and a two-run double by Teoscar Hernández that tied the game at 5-5.

The Yankees finally answered back when Brusdar Graterol was uncharacteristically wild in facing the heart of the Yankees order. He didn't allow a hit, but walked three, with one of them scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly. It was just the second three-walk game of Graterol's career, and the first since August 25, 2021. Before Wednesday, Graterol walked three total batters in 23⅔ innings in his postseason career.

Amazingly, Cole got five more outs after that disastrous fifth, and left after a two-out walk to Freeman in the seventh. Clay Holmes entered, pitching his fifth game of the series, and walked Hernández on four pitches. Max Muncy ran the count full but struck out looking with two runners on, running his hitless skid to 21 at-bats dating back to the NLCS.

Armed with a lead, the Dodgers concurrently had Daniel Hudson — who pitched in each of the previous two days — and Walker Buehler — who pitched five scoreless innings in his Game 3 start two days prior — warming in the bullpen.

Buehler, who had a rough regular season in returning from his second Tommy John surgery, and who gave up six runs in the second inning of Game 2 of the NLDS, got all three batters he faced to close out the title, striking out two.

It was Buehler's second professional save, and his first since August 13, 2017 for Triple-A Oklahoma City, three and a half weeks before his major league debut.

Buehler, who won Game 3 and saved Game 5, ended his postseason with 13 consecutive scoreless innings. And now he's a two-time champion.

World Series Game 5 particulars

Home runs: Aaron Judge (3), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2), Giancarlo Stanton (7)

WP — Blake Treinen (2-0): 2⅓ IP, 1 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

LP — Tommy Kahnle (1-1): 0 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk

Sv — Walker Buehler (1): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

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