In the World Series starring contest of bullpen games, the New York Yankees blinked first. Former Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole survived a shaky first inning in which Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts both barely stayed in the yard on flyouts to the warning track and Freddie Freeman tripled to give the Yankees six solid innings. The only run Cole allowed came in the fifth inning when Center Fielder Enrique Hernandez tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Catcher Will Smith.
New York Yankees Bullpen Does Its Job Until It Didn’t
Leading 2-1 in the eighth inning thanks to a Giancarlo Stanton two-run home run in the sixth, Tommy Kahnle and his endless supply of changeups allowed Ohtani to double in the eighth inning and then take third on a throwing error by Juan Soto. Luke Weaver did his job but a Betts fly ball to center scored Ohtani to tie the game.
The New York Yankees took the lead in the tenth inning when Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, stole second, stole third, and scored on a fielder’s choice. All the New York Yankees bullpen had to do was get the bottom of the order out. The bottom of the tenth started well with Jake Cousins getting Smith to fly to right. Then the wheels came off. Cousins walked Gavin Lux. Nothing good ever comes from a walk in the postseason. Tommy Edman singled, moving Lux to second. Then Arron Boone went to the pen again. This time bringing in starter Nestor Cortes.
Second Guessing Bringing In Nestor Cortes
After Ohtani fouled out to left field, moving the runners to second and third, Betts was walked intentionally to set up the force at any base. The force out would never come but a force did come. On the very first pitch, a four-seam fastball to Freddie Freeman, the game was over. Freeman took the pitch 409 feet to right for the walk-off grand slam and the Yankees lost Game One of the World Series.
Cortes had only been used as a reliever once during the season as kind of a rest from the grind of starting late in the season. Boone had used five pitchers, including starter Cole, by the bottom of the tenth, so it’s not obvious who he might have brought in instead. Still, the history of success by starters in a relief capacity in the postseason is dicey.
For every Mike Mussina relieving Roger Clemens there is a David Wells who then comes in and surrenders a home run. This sequence occurred in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS, otherwise known as the “Arron F’ing Boone” game in Boston. That was when the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox on a walk-off home in the 10th.
Onto Game Two
An entire series can be defined by moments like the Freeman grand slam. On one pitch the outcome of a game turns 180 degrees and can ripple through the rest of the series. The New York Yankees will need to shake off the tenth inning and focus on Game Two where Carlos Rodon should give them another really good opportunity to steal a game in Los Angeles.
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