Back-to-back home runs from Freeman and Hernandez lifted the Dodgers past the Yankees in Game 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6 1/3 innings, Freddie Freeman hit a home run for the second straight game and the Los Angeles Dodgers hit three early longballs from Carlos Rodón to beat the New York Yankees 4-0 on Saturday. 2 to beat Take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández also went deep for the Dodgers, who watched star slugger Shohei Ohtani leave the field in the bottom of the seventh inning with a left arm injury.

After the Yankees closed to 4-2 on Giancarlo Stanton's RBI single in the ninth off Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia relieved with the bases loaded and retired pinch-hitter Jose Trevino with a first-pitch flyout for the save.

Yamamoto allowed Juan Soto's home run in the third inning and then retired his last 11 batters and 15 of his last 16.

Soto also singled in the ninth and scored on Stanton's one-out hit from the third base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a single and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia relieved.

Ohtani injured his left arm on a foot-first slide when he was caught stealing second base to end seventh base.

Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. 45 of the 56 teams that are 2-0 in the World Series have won the title.

New York's Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and hit .150 with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats.

Soto's tying home run on an inside fastball was the only run Yamamoto allowed in two starts and 13 1/3 innings against the Yankees this year. The rookie left to huge applause and gave the fans a tiny gesture of his cap as he walked to the dugout.

Yamamoto was traded to the Dodgers last December and received a 12-year, $325 million contract, a record for pitchers. Together with Ohtani, he created record interest in Major League Baseball in Japan.

Yamamoto was sidelined from June 15 to September 10 with a rotator cuff strain and this was his best start since the injury.

In his longest outing since starting in the Bronx, Yamamoto struck out four and walked two on a five-pitch array that included curveballs, splitters, sliders and cutters. He improved to 2-0 in four postseason starts.

His best game of the regular season came in June at Yankee Stadium, when he allowed three hits in seven shutout innings. Hernández had three home runs and nine RBIs in the three-game series.

A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history, turning a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 victory, Edman gave the Dodgers one Solo shot in the second inning for the lead.

After Soto tied it, Mookie Betts hit a single with two outs in the bottom half and Hernández scored on a 3-for-27 slide to the pavilion in right-center.

Freeman, who before Friday had not gone deep since September 16, was greeted with huge cheers before each plate appearance. He worked out the count and also hit the right center.

Freeman, who suffered a sprained right ankle, has scored in four straight Series games, starting in Atlanta's last two games against Houston in 2021. That's one less than the record set by George Springer of the Astros.

All three Dodgers home runs came on fastballs from Rodón, whose 31 longballs allowed during the regular season were tied for second-most in the major leagues. Los Angeles hit back-to-back home runs for the second time in the Series after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager hit Yankees left-hander Ron Guidry 2-1 in Game 5 in 1981.

Rodón allowed four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead for the first time since 1988 when Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run off Oakland's Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are 0-2 for the first time since 2001, when they rebounded from three straight wins at home and lost Games 6 and 7 in Arizona.

NEXT

Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt and Dodgers RHP Walker Buehler will start Monday. Schmidt has a 3.86 ERA in two postseason starts and no decisions in Game 3 against Kansas City and Cleveland. Buehler also started two outings in Game 3, allowing six runs over five innings in a 6-5 loss to San Diego and pitching four innings in an 8-0 win over the New York Mets.

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