LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans.
He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series.
Yamamoto allowed one hit in 6 1/3 innings, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night, and Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
However, the Dodgers will head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base.
“We’re going to get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow, and then we’ll know more in the next couple days,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The strength was great. The range of motion good. So we’re encouraged.”
Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández also went deep off starter Carlos Rodón, who tied a Yankees World Series record by allowing three home runs.
New York was held to one hit before the ninth inning, when the Yankees closed to 4-2 on Giancarlo Stanton’s one-out RBI single against Blake Treinen. Anthony Volpe struck out with the bases loaded, and Alex Vesia came in to retire pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout for his first postseason save.
“Thinking back to my front yard at my house, that’s what we would envision,” Vesia said.
Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Forty-five of 56 teams holding 2-0 leads in the World Series have gone on to win the title.
“No one said it’s going to be easy,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, whose storied franchise is back in the Fall Classic for the 41st time overall but first since 2009. “It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch.”
Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He is 1-for-9 in the World Series and is hitting .150 with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats.
“Just expanding the zone. That’s really what it really comes down to,” Judge said. “I think it’s trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you. … Plain and simple, I’ve got to start swinging at strikes.”
Yamamoto turned down the Yankees last December and joined the Dodgers for a $325 million, 12-year contract, a record for pitchers, teaming with Ohtani to create record interest in Major League Baseball back in Japan.
The rookie right-hander threw seven scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium on June 7 but was sidelined from June 15 to Sept. 10 because of a strained rotator cuff. This was his finest start since the injury.
Yamamoto gave up Juan Soto’s third-inning homer, then retired the last 11 batters he faced.
“He was made for those moments,” Hernández said. “He was doing it in Japan before he got here, and as soon as he got here, he was doing it here.”
Yamamoto struck out four batters and walked two with a five-pitch array that included curveballs, splitters, sliders and cutters. He improved to 2-0 in four postseason starts.
“It was kind of a mixed feeling because I was very (much) looking forward to it and happy, but then after I felt that I started trying to focus,” Yamamoto said through a translator.
Soto’s fourth postseason homer, on an inside fastball, was the only run Yamamoto permitted in two starts and 13 1/3 innings against the Yankees this year.
Soto also singled off the right-field wall in the ninth and scored on Stanton’s one-out base hit off third base. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, loading the bases.
The rally ended there.
“This is everything to me, playing on the highest stage with literally the two biggest teams you can play for, biggest franchises, most history,” Vesia said.
A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history to transform a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 win, Edman put the Dodgers ahead with a solo shot in the second.
After the tying shot by Soto, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom half and Hernández, in a 3-for-27 slide, homered into the right-center pavilion. Freeman, who before Friday hadn’t gone deep since since Sept. 16, worked the count full and homered to right-center again.
Playing on a sprained right ankle, Freeman has homered in four straight World Series games dating to the Atlanta Braves’ last two games against the Houston Astros in 2021. That is one shy of the record held by Astros outfielder George Springer.
Freeman had six days off entering the World Series.
“I was able to calm my ankle down,” the eight-time MLB All-Star and 2020 National League MVP said. “So hopefully with the flight tonight — I’ve been swelling a lot on flights — so hopefully tomorrow we can get it down and get in a good spot for Game 3.”
All three Dodgers homers came on fastballs from Rodón, whose 31 home runs allowed during the regular season tied for second most in the major leagues this year. Los Angeles had back-to-back World Series homers for just the second time, after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager connected against Yankees lefty Ron Guidry for a 2-1 win in Game 5 in 1981.
Rodón gave up four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings. He got just one swing-and-miss strike on his fastball.
Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead in MLB’s title round for the first time since 1988, when an injured Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, walk-off homer against the Oakland Athletics’ Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are trailing 2-0 in a World Series for the first time since 2001, when they rebounded to win three straight at home and lost Games 6 and 7 to the host Arizona Diamondbacks.
Ohtani’s MRI and a determination of his availability will be anxiously awaited by the Dodgers and their fans.
“Not only the dugout, but the whole stadium went silent,” Hernández said. “Hopefully he’s OK and the day off tomorrow will help him get back on the field Monday.”
Both teams are set to start right-handers on the mound Monday as the Yankees give the ball to Clarke Schmidt and the Dodgers counter with Walker Buehler.