Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run with the bases loaded in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, giving his team a 1-0 series lead over the New York Yankees.
After Mookie Betts intentionally walked the bases with the bases loaded, Freeman came to the plate. And against Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortez, who hadn't pitched in weeks, Freeman hit the first pitch he saw deep into the right-field seats for the win.
It was a climactic conclusion to one of the most anticipated MLB games in recent years.
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Freddie Freeman (center, left) of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates at home plate after hitting the game-winning grand slam against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 1 of the Baseball World Series on Friday, October 25, 2024. Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
Both starting pitchers, Gerrit Cole of the Yankees and Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers, pitched four scoreless innings to start the game. Flaherty put some base runners on and Cole hit a deep fly ball to the track, all zeros through the first four frames.
Cole was the first to bat, allowing a sac fly to Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who scored off Quique Hernandez to give LA a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Next came Giancarlo Stanton. The veteran Yankees slugger, who topped the MLB's all-time home run list in one at-bat this postseason, hit his fifth home run in the playoffs. In the sixth inning, he gave New York a 2-1 lead with a towering two-run shot that arched majestically into left field.
Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees celebrates his two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 1 of the Baseball World Series on Friday, October 25, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
From then on, the bullpens of both teams kept the batters at bay until Shohei Ohtani hit a spectacular double in the 8th inning. Then, when the throw escaped a Yankee infielder, he sneaked to third base.
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So the Yankees turned to their de facto closer, Luke Weaver, for a potential five-out save. Weaver, a 31-year-old journeyman who was unexpectedly given the role of New York's closer ahead of the playoffs, pitched two innings and posted four innings in a Game 5 win, making four of five saves. It became one of the biggest stories in MLB this season. ALCS sends the Yankees to the World Series.
However, with Ohtani already on third base, Weaver allowed a fly ball to Mookie Betts, and Ohtani scored, tying the score at 2.
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Quique Hernandez, 8, of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates in the dugout after scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1 of the Baseball World Series on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
In the top of the 9th inning, a fly ball from Gleyber Torres to left-center field was caught by a fan, and the fan's interference put Torres on second base. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then chose to intentionally walk Juan Soto, leaving Aaron Judge at bat with two outs and second base.
And Judge, who has struggled in the playoffs thus far, came up empty in the obligatory pop-up in perhaps the biggest at-bat of his career up to that point.
Weaver then returned to the Yankees in the ninth inning, finishing a 1-2-3 inning and sending the game into overtime.
Jazz Chisholm got on base, stole second and third, then homered on Anthony Volpe's grounder, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
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Then, in the bottom of the 10th inning, Freeman's home run came.
It was the first World Series game between two prestigious teams since October 28, 1981, when the Dodgers won 9-2 at Yankee Stadium to clinch the series. In the first postseason game between the two teams, held in Los Angeles on October 25 of that year, the Dodgers won 2-1, changing the course of the series.
The two teams will play Game 2 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night. The game can be watched on FOX.
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