The bullpen game last night was mostly a failure. Ben Casparius started the game and struggled to find the zone, walking three and only getting 23 strikes in his 43 pitches. He did only allow one run as the Yankees continued to struggle with runners on, but it wasn’t a great opening. He left with the lead and Daniel Hudson came on to face the heart of the order in the third. He also struggled with command, as he allowed a single, hit a batter and walked a batter to load the bases for Anthony Volpe, who promptly unloaded the bases. Landon Knack was mostly fine for four innings and allowed the Dodgers to claw their way back into the game, but Brent Honeywell Jr. needed 50 pitches to get out of the eighth inning and allowed five runs to really put the game out of reach.
In another way, it was slightly successful. Losses are bad and it was an extremely annoying game, but the Dodgers only used arguably their four lowest-leverage arms. Meanwhile, the Yankees used four of their leverage arms (Tim Hill, Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr. and Luke Weaver). Holmes has been used in all four games of this series, and the other three have been used three times, including both games in New York. They’ve all been pretty dominant in the series, but at some point the fatigue figures to kick in. The Honeywell struggle hurt the cause a bit, as Weaver had thrown 21 pitches and was looking like he’d be tasked to get the final three outs in the ninth inning of a two-run game. Instead, the deficit ballooned to seven and the Yankees turned to Tim Mayza.
I did write this before reading Dustin’s post earlier, so read more about this here. As frustrating as it was, they still have three chances to win one game to become champions. If you told me that a week ago, I’d take it no questions asked.
5:08 P.M. | New York | ||
DH | Ohtani (L) | 2B | Torres |
RF | Betts | RF | Soto (L) |
1B | Freeman (L) | CF | Judge |
LF | T. Hernández | 3B | Chisholm Jr. (L) |
3B | Muncy (L) | DH | Stanton |
CF | K. Hernández | 1B | Rizzo (L) |
SS | Edman (S) | SS | Volpe |
C | Smith | C | Wells (L) |
2B | Lux (L) | LF | Verdugo (L) |
P | Flaherty (R) | P | Cole (R) |
Today features a rematch of Game 1, with Jack Flaherty going against Gerrit Cole. Allan wrote extensively about that matchup in his thread. They traded scoreless innings through four until the Dodgers broke through in the fifth. Enrique Hernandez tripled with some help from Juan Soto in right, and Will Smith scored him on a sac fly. The lead lasted three more batters, as Flaherty was left in to face the heart of the Yankee lineup for a third time in the top of the sixth. Soto singled to lead off the inning, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a ball to Frogtown for a two-run lead. The Dodgers tied it in the eighth, and Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off bases loaded grand slam to get the series started off right.
Bases loaded grand slam? Jesus Christ
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 26, 2024
Flaherty allowed two runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and only one walk. He got 19 swinging strikes, which was his second-highest of the season (21 on April 30 for the Tigers) and nine of the 19 balls put in play off him were grounders. It might be a fatigue thing, but Flaherty’s relied on his knuckle-curve more than usual lately. His two highest usage rates on it came in his last two starts (40 percent on 10/18, 38.6 percent in Game 1), with varying results. He threw 30 of them agains the Mets and only game up one hit (a triple) and didn’t get a whiff. He had a 70.6 percent (!) whiff rate with his curve in Game 1, but three of the five hits he allowed came off it, including Stanton’s homer. Flaherty’s velocity was up from where it’s been recently last time out, as he was back up to a 93.6 MPH average fastball velo. With a rested bullpen and off day tomorrow (if necessary), it would be surprising to see Flaherty face the Yankee lineup a third time tonight regardless of how he’s dealing.
As great as Flaherty was in Game 1, Cole was just a bit better. He allowed four hits and a run over six+ innings, but only struck out four and got nine swinging strikes. The Dodgers hit 13 fly balls off Cole, including a sixth-inning Freeman flyout with a runner on that would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium. He’s allowed at least 12 fly balls in each of his four playoff starts this October, which could play well for the Dodgers in this ballpark. He had a significantly worse ERA at home this season (4.31 to 2.49 on the road), but the OPS difference wasn’t that significant (.690 at home, .601 on the road) and he actually gave up fewer homers at home (five) than on the road (six). Cole dared the Dodgers to hit his fastball in Game 1, throwing it 51.1 percent of the time. Three of Cole’s four strikeouts ended on the heater and he allowed a single, double and triple off it among the nine that were put in play.
The Dodgers roll with the same starting nine as last night, but flipped Tommy Edman and Gavin Lux in the lineup. The Yankees roll out the exact same lineup.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 PM PT and will be shown on FOX.