NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo鈥檚 RBI single and Giancarlo Stanton鈥檚 third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton鈥檚 sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his , pitched a perfect ninth for his first major league save.
鈥淲e鈥檙e obviously resilient, but there鈥檚 so much love in the clubhouse that won this game today,鈥� Betts said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it was. It was love, it was grit. I mean, it was just a beautiful thing. I鈥檓 just proud of us and I鈥檓 happy for us.鈥�
When Buehler struck out Verdugo to end the game, the Dodgers poured onto the field to celebrate between the mound and first base, capping a season in which they won 98 games and finished with the best regular-season record.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just a lot of ways we can win baseball games,鈥� Buehler said. 鈥淥bviously the superstars we have on our team and the discipline, it just kind of all adds up.鈥�
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers鈥� record-setting $700 million signing and baseball鈥檚 first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday鈥檚 opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson鈥檚 homer off Oakland鈥檚 Dennis Eckersley in 1988鈥檚 Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles 鈥� their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a after a 60-game regular season and couldn鈥檛 have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
These Dodgers of Ohtani, Freeman & Betts joined the 1955 Duke Snider and Roy Campanella Boys of Summer, the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale era that spanned the three titles from 1959-65, the Tommy Lasorda-led groups 1981 and 鈥�88 and the Betts and Clayton Kershaw champions of 2020.
Dave Roberts won his second championship in nine seasons as manager as the Dodgers, matching Lasorda and trailing the four of Walter Alston. The Dodgers won for the fourth time in 12 Series meetings with the Yankees.
New York remained without a title since winning its record 27th in 2009. The Yankees acquired Juan Soto from San Diego in December knowing he would be eligible for free agency after the 2024 Series. The 26-year-old star went 5 for 16 one RBI in the Series heading into intensely followed bidding on the open market.
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Cole didn鈥檛 allow a hit until Kik茅 Hern谩ndez singled leading off the fifth. Judge, who an inning earlier made a leaping catch at the wall to deny Freeman an extra-base hit, dropped Tommy Edman鈥檚 fly to center. Shortstop Anthony Volpe then bounced a throw to third on Will Smith鈥檚 grounder, allowing the Dodgers to load the bases with no outs.
Cole struck out Lux and Ohtani, and Betts hit a grounder to Rizzo. Cole didn鈥檛 cover first, pointing at Rizzo to run to the bag as Betts outraced the first baseman.
Freeman followed with a two-run single and Teoscar Hern谩ndez hit a tying two-run double. Max Muncy walked before Kik茅 Hern谩ndez grounded into a forceout on Cole鈥檚 48th pitch of the inning.
鈥淲e just take advantage of every mistake they made in that inning,鈥� Teoscar Hern谩ndez said. 鈥淲e put some good at-bats together. We put the ball in play.鈥�
Stanton鈥檚 sixth-inning sacrifice fly off Brusdar Graterol put the Yankees ahead 6-5, but the Dodgers rallied one last time in the eighth.
Kik茅 Hern谩ndez singled off Tommy Kahnle leading off. Edman followed with an infield hit and Smith walked on four pitches. Lux鈥檚 sacrifice fly off Luke Weaver tied the score. Ohtani reached on catcher鈥檚 interference and Betts followed with another sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers their first lead.
, the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman from Tampa Bay to head their baseball operations two years later. He boosted the front office with a multitude of analytics and performance science staff, and ownership supplied the cash.
Los Angeles went on an unprecedented $1.25 billion spending spree last offseason on deals with Ohtani, pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton, and outfielder Teoscar Hern谩ndez. Much of the money was future obligations that raised the Dodgers鈥� deferred compensation to $915.5 million owed from 2028-44.
Faced with injuries, the Dodgers acquired Flaherty, Edman and reliever Michael Kopech ahead of the trade deadline, and all became important cogs in the title run. The additions boosted payroll to $266 million, third behind the Mets and the Yankees, plus a projected $43 million luxury tax.
UP NEXT
Los Angeles opens its spring schedule on Feb. 20 against the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch, and the Yankees start the next day against Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida.
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AP MLB:
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
