June 7, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers design hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hits during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
11:33 JST, June 10, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Trent Grisham hit a go-ahead three-run homer, Aaron Judge and Oswaldo Cabrera also went deep and the New York Yankees rallied Sunday night for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers to sweep three games in a series seen as a possible preview of the World Series.
Teoscar Hernández’s home run in the sixth inning, his third in the series, had given the Dodgers a 3-2 lead against Luis Gil, one inning after the rookie allowed Mookie Betts’ tying two-run double with two outs.
Starting because Juan Soto missed his third straight game due to forearm soreness, Grisham hit a fastball from Tyler Glasnow (6-5) about a dozen rows into the right-field seats for a 5-3 lead in the bottom half . Fans in the sold-out crowd of 48,023 chanted “We Want Soto!” when Grisham came to the plate on infield hits by Alex Verdugo and Judge that bounced off field gloves.
Grisham was acquired by the Yankees in the December trade that brought Soto from San Diego and started the night hitting .083 with two home runs. Soto could return Monday night against Kansas City.
Judge hit his 24th major league home run in the eighth against Yohan Ramírez. He also had an RBI double on a three-hit night and raised his batting average to .305, his first time above .300 this season. Judge hit .197 through May 2 and has since hit .419 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs.
Cabrera, like Grisham a backup on a star-laden roster, had put the Yankees ahead with a home run off the right field foul pole in a two-run third.
Los Angeles’ first two batters reached base in the seventh against former Dodgers reliever Caleb Ferguson (1-3). Luke Weaver came on and catcher Jose Trevino threw Andy Pages to third base on a bunt by Kiké Hernández. Betts then grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Shohei Ohtani doubled to lead off the eighth and scored on Will Smith’s sacrifice fly.
June 9, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers ‘designed hitter’ Shohei Ohtani (17) scores before New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino (39) hits a sacrifice fly by Dodgers catcher Will Smith (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium .
Clay Holmes pitched the ninth for his 19th save in 22 chances, allowing a pair of two-out singles before striking out Betts on a slider.
Teoscar Hernández homered twice in Saturday’s 11-3 victory, doubled in the second for the Dodgers’ first hit and forced a switch to the back of the Dodgers’ bullpen in left center. He was 6 for 10 with nine RBIs in the series and has 47 RBIs in 79 games against the Yankees.
Glasnow allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings with 12 strikeouts and fell to 0-4 in his last six starts.
Gil had won his previous seven starts and increased his record to 8-1. He gave up three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, with his ERA rising from 1.82 to 2.04.
Cabrera led off the third with his fifth home run of the season and first since May 1, giving the Yankees their first lead in the series. Cabrera made just his second start in June and was inserted into the lineup when manager Aaron Boone gave the slumping Anthony Rizzo the night off and moved DJ LeMahieu from third base to first base.
Judge’s RBI double popped off Pages’ glove as the rookie jumped just in front of the center field wall.
