LOS ANGELES — The only home run that saw Gerrit Cole fly out of Dodger Stadium on Saturday came from a teammate.
The Yankees had a trio from California that tied the series with the Dodgers.
Jake Bowers hit two homers, Aaron Judge added a solo run, and another spectacular catch helped Cole regain the upper hand and the Yankees to a 6-3 victory over the Dodgers.
According to Fox, Cole pitched his best pitch since April, giving up one run in the sixth inning, but was sent off with a season-low 80 pitches due to a cramp.
That’s why manager Aaron Boone started lefty Wandy Peralta in the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead that includes a trio of left-handed batters. The Dodgers quickly took advantage of it.
He used pinch hitters in three consecutive games to force a right-handed hitter to face Peralta, and as a result, hit singles, triples, and walks to close within 5-2.
Boone then turned to Michael King, who, after allowing an RBI run, dismissed Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith in an inning that the Yankees were still leading 5-3. escaped.
Then King kept the Dodgers at bay with help from the judges in the eighth inning. Max Muncey reached for a three-strike drop and passed Jose Trevino to take the lead, before JD Martinez threw a fly deep into the right field.
The judges ran full speed back and caught it just before it hit the right field fence.
His 6-foot-7, 282-pound stature slammed into the wall just outside the Yankees’ bullpen, opening the fence and nearly dropping the judges. But he only took one step to stabilize his body with the ball safe in his gloves.
The trainer and Boone went outside to check on the judges, but the judges remained in the game, potentially catastrophically hitting the fence.
Despite a dramatic final few innings, the Yankees win kicked off Sunday’s rubber match showdown with the Dodgers.
In the first seven games of the season, Cole threw 46/3 innings and allowed no homers, posting a 1.35 ERA. But in his last five starts through Saturday, Cole allowed eight home runs in 27 innings and posted a 5.67 ERA.
But the Dodgers didn’t leave a single yard on Saturday against Cole. Instead, fellow Newport Beach native Bowers hit two two-run homers to give him the lead.
Bowers’ first home run came in the second inning against Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove.
In front of Bowers, DJ LeMahue roped a fly into the goal and center fielder James Outman was overrun on a bounce. The ball drifted toward the caution track and LeMahugh hit a triple. Bowers came on next, hitting an infield hit with a 414-foot slider to the right field and hitting a two-run homer for a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers oddly returned one in the back of the inning. Cole took two quick outs to make it 0-2 against Jason Hayward before spiked the slider and hit his front foot. David Peralta then flew to the left field line and landed between three fielders to form the Bermuda Triangle, pulling the Dodgers within 2-1.
After Bowers added a 2-run homer in the 4th inning, Judge hit a homer in the 6th inning with a line-drive shot over the wall in the left field.
Oswaldo Cabrera, who flew in from Newark early Saturday morning to Dodger Stadium in time for the game, added a solo homer in the ninth inning to give him another breather.
