LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one hit in 6 1/3 innings, Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night and the Los Angeles Dodgers hit three early long balls off Carlos Rodón to beat the New York Yankees by 4 on Saturday. -2 defeated. Leading 2-0 in the World Series.

Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández also went after the Dodgers, who watched the superstar slug it out Shohei Ohtani left the field in the bottom of the seventh inning with a partially dislocated left shoulder.

After the Yankees pulled to within 4–2 on Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI single in the ninth off Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia relieved with the bases loaded and retired the batter in the first inning to save Jose Trevino.

Yamamoto gave up a third-inning home run off Juan Soto, then retired the final 11 batters.

“I was really looking forward to this game,” he said through a translator, “and I’m glad we had a great ending.”

Soto also grounded out of the wall in the ninth and scored on Stanton’s single off the third base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. He singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia completed four innings.

Ohtani was injured while slipping on his first leg when he was caught stealing second base to lead off the seventh inning.

“He had a minor left shoulder subluxation. “We’ll do some testing tonight or tomorrow and we’ll know more in the next few days,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “The strength has been great. The range of motion is good, so we’re encouraged. But obviously I can’t speculate because “He hasn’t (received) the scans yet. So once we get the scans we’ll know more. But again, with the strength and range of motion being good, it’s definitely a positive.”

Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Of the 56 teams that led 2-0 in the World Series, 45 won the championship.

“Nobody said this was going to be easy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “This is a long series and we need to make it a long series now. “We will not give up.”

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

Soto’s tying homer 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 released his right hand to a huge ovation and gave fans a small tip of his hat as he walked toward the dugout.

“I think everything was going well for me from the first shot,” he said. “It worked pretty well today.”

Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December on a $325 million, 12-year contract; this was a record for pitchers, and he teamed up with Ohtani to create record interest in Major League Baseball in Japan.

Yamamoto was sidelined from June 15 to September 10 due to a strained rotator cuff, and it was his best start since his injury.

“Yamamoto, we did great tonight and obviously got the lead early and held on,” Freeman said.

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

He pitched his best game of the regular season in June at Yankee Stadium, allowing three hits in seven shutout innings. Hernández had three homers and nine RBIs in this three-game series.

One night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 victory with two outs in the 10th inning, Edman put the Dodgers ahead with a solo shot in the second inning.

After Soto tied the score, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom half and Hernández homered to the right-center pavilion for a 3-for-27 strikeout.

Before Friday, Freeman, who had not pitched deep since Sept. 16, was greeted with loud cheers before each plate appearance. He made a full count and headed back to right-center.

Freeman, who is playing with a right ankle sprain, has appeared in four consecutive Series games, including Atlanta’s final two games against Houston in 2021. That’s just one record held by Astros outfielder George Springer.

“The six days off between the NLCS and the World Series was huge for me,” Freeman said. “I’ve managed to calm my ankle down. Hopefully with tonight’s flight I’m getting a lot of swelling on the flights and hopefully we can do that tomorrow and get to a good point for Game 3.”

All three of the Dodgers’ homers came on fastballs from Rodón, who was allowed to hit 31 long balls during the regular season, good for second in the major leagues. Los Angeles scored back-to-back for the second time in the series after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager homered against Yankees lefty Ron Guidry in Game 5 in 1981 for a 2-1 lead.

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

Los Angeles took a 2-0 Series lead for the first time since 1988, when Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer against Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser tossed a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are 0-2 for the first time since 2001, when they won three straight at home and lost Games 6 and 7 in Arizona.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt and Dodgers RHP Walker Buehler start Monday. Schmidt has a 3.86 ERA in his postseason debuts and a no-decision in Game 3s against Kansas City and Cleveland. Buehler also started a pair of Game 3s, allowing six runs over five innings with four strikeouts in a 6-5 loss to San Diego and an 8-0 win over the New York Mets.

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