By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Freddie Freeman homered in his third straight game to help put the Los Angeles Dodgers one win away from the World Series title on Monday, beating the New York Yankees 4-2 on the road in Game Three.
Freeman’s two-run, first-inning shot sent a chill through the Bronx as he became only the third player to homer in the first three games of the Fall Classic.
The Dodgers also got an RBI from Mookie Betts in the third inning and another from Enrique Hernandez in the sixth.
Outfielder Alex Verdugo gave the Yankees a glimmer of hope with a two-run homer in the ninth but it was too little, too late as they were unable to catch fire in front of their home fans.
“Our guys are very hungry for a championship, a parade,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Nothing is going to get in the way of that, nothing.”
Yankees great Derek Jeter was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and fans greeted the Bronx Bombers with a deafening cheer for their first home game in nearly two weeks.
But the mood changed when the Dodgers’ MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani got on base with a four-pitch walk and Freeman then launched a 355-foot home run over the right field wall.
Betts singled to send Tommy Edman home two innings later.
The Yankees failed to record a hit until the fourth inning when slugger Giancarlo Stanton injected some life into the crowd with a double to deep left center field.
But the stout Dodgers defense extinguished that momentum quickly, Betts making a spectacular dive to catch Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s line drive to right field and Teoscar Hernandez throwing out Stanton at home plate.
Things got worse for the Yankees in the sixth when Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux stole second and then ran home off of Hernandez’s single to center field.
Frustrated fans had already begun stomping out of Yankee Stadium when Verdugo smashed the ball 373 feet in the bottom of the ninth but Gleyber Torres grounded out in the final at bat.
A cast of high-profile players in a World Series between two marquee franchises has been a boon for MLB and Saturday’s Game 2 saw record viewership in Ohtani’s native Japan, where he is a national hero.
But the series is at risk of a quick ending with the Yankees hosting Game 4 on Tuesday knowing defeat hands the Dodgers the title. No team have ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win the World Series.
“Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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