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NEW YORK — It was a parade of stars at the plate worthy of October – and a parade of zeroes on the scoreboard, also postseason-worthy.
The Dodgers and New York Yankees stuffed their lineups with five former MVPs on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series billed as a potential World Series preview. But Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a collective of six Yankees pitchers engaged in a scoreless duel for 10 innings before Teoscar Hernandez came through with a two-run double in the 11th and the Dodgers came away with a 2-1 victory.
Those five former MVPs (Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton) went a combined 3 for 18 with Judge getting two of the hits.
Paid like a star before he even threw a pitch in the majors, Yamamoto has been living up to his paycheck. On the big stage at Yankee Stadium for the first time, he held the Yankees in check for seven innings and a career-high 106 pitches.
Yamamoto gave up a two-out double to Judge in the first inning and a two-out single to Trent Grisham in the second inning which put runners at the corners (after an error by Kiké Hernandez at third base). But he retired 12 consecutive batters after that and 15 of his final 17, a stretch marred only by two walks and no more hits.
It was the fourth of Yamamoto’s first 13 starts this season in which he didn’t allow a run but the first to cover seven innings. He has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of those 13 starts.
The Yankee Stadium atmosphere might have been good for Yamamoto’s fastball. He averaged 97 mph on it Friday, up from 95.3 mph over his first 12 starts. Vulnerable at times, he got seven of his 13 swings-and-misses on his four-seamer and struck out seven.
The Yankees’ brawny lineup came into the game having scored an MLB-leading 321 runs with the dynamic duo of Judge and Juan Soto getting all the headlines. But their pitching has also been a driving force behind their best-in-baseball 45-19 record, posting another MLB best – a 2.78 ERA.
The Dodgers had runners on base in each of the first seven innings against starter Cody Poteet and a series of relievers (including former Dodgers Victor Gonzalez and Caleb Ferguson). They didn’t get any past first base until Betts followed Kiké Hernandez’s two-out walk with a single in the fifth. Ohtani grounded out to end the inning.
Hernandez doubled with two outs in the seventh and was stranded there.
The Yankees’ best chance came in the eighth when Anthony Banda gave up back-to-back singles with two outs, bringing Judge to the plate for an October-worthy matchup against Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen.
Judge drew a walk after a 10-pitch battle (only the second in 41 batters this season against Treinen) and brought Stanton to the plate with the bases loaded. Treinen got him to fly out.
The Dodgers couldn’t advance their free runner in the top of the 10th. Gavin Lux struck out and that runner, Andy Pages, was thrown out trying to get to third on a ground ball to shortstop. Betts drew a walk to bring up Ohtani with two outs. But he hit a 107.8 mph ground ball right at first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
Michael Grove stranded the Yankees’ free runner in the 10th and the Dodgers finally broke through in the top of the 11th. After Freeman drew a walk to put two runners on, Will Smith flew out. But Teoscar Hernandez laced a double into the left-center field gap to score both.
A bullpen depleted by covering 12⅓ innings the previous two days (after short starts by James Paxton and Walker Buehler) was down to Yohan Ramirez in the 11th. He gave up an RBI single to Judge but closed it out.
More to come on this story.
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Courtesy : https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/06/07/scoreless-duel-goes-to-11-before-dodgers-beat-yankees/