By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York native Anthony Volpe smashed a grand slam to keep the Yankees’ World Series hopes alive on Tuesday as the Bronx Bombers bludgeoned the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 in Game Four.
The 23-year-old shortstop grew up idolizing the Yankees and was the hero New York needed in front of a sold-out home crowd, blasting a home run 390 feet to center field in the third inning and running home again in the eighth.
Outfielder Alex Verdugo added an RBI and catcher Austin Wells recorded a solo home run, while second baseman Gleyber Torres got a three-run homer. Slugger Aaron Judge finally came alive after a dismal series with an RBI.
“I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,” said Volpe, who was among the huge crowds that watched the Yankees parade the last time they won the championship in 2009.
“We just want to keep putting pressure on them, and I think everyone had confidence in everyone in the lineup that someone was going to get the big hit.”
With the Dodgers’ advantage in the series narrowed to 3-1, the teams play once more in New York for Game Five on Wednesday.
No team have ever recovered from 0-3 down in the World Series and the Dodgers looked in control as Freddie Freeman smashed one over the right-field wall to take the 2-0 lead in the first inning, becoming the first man to homer in the first four games of the Fall Classic.
The evening took a bizarre turn when a fan grabbed Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts by the wrist and tried to wrest the ball from his mitt as the All-Star hopped up for a catch along the right field line.
Outfielder Alex Verdugo injected some life into the crowd as he batted in Volpe to trim the Dodgers’ lead in the second inning, as the desperate New York fans let out a deafening roar.
With the bases loaded in the next inning, Volpe answered their prayers with a monster homer that soared over center field as his family watched from the stands.
“Hopefully when we win the World Series and I’m with family, we can all reflect on everything,” he said. “It was just a big game.”
The Dodgers clawed back some of the momentum in the fifth with catcher Will Smith’s solo homer and an RBI from Freeman, but could not close the deficit as they were forced to run a bullpen game.
Wells added the insurance run in the sixth, Volpe scored off a double from Verdugo, Torres added three more runs to the board and Judge sent right fielder Juan Soto home in a productive eighth inning.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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