The Yankees said goodbye to Hollywood, but not before saving face in the World Series rematch.
At risk of getting swept for the first time this season, and coming off an embarrassing 18-2 loss on Saturday, the Yankees salvaged a win and did it the hard way in the game they appeared to be most overmatched from a starting pitcher perspective.
Leave it to Ryan Yarbrough to outduel Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with the crafty lefty doing what Max Fried and Will Warren could not by shutting down the high-powered Dodgers lineup in a 7-3 win on Sunday night at a sold-out Dodger Stadium.
Ryan Yarbrough throws a pitch during the Yankees’ win against the Dodgers on June 1.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a pitch during the Yankees’ win against the Dodgers on June 1.
Yarbrough tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers, continuing a terrific string of starts since moving into the rotation, while the Yankees beat up on Yamamoto for a change to fly home after a 6-3 West Coast road trip.
“Would’ve loved to win the series, but after that mess of a game [Saturday], to come back like we did showed a lot,” said DJ LeMahieu, who led the offensive attack by going 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. “Felt good to finish off this road trip.”
The only concern by the end of the night was injuries to Jasson Domínguez (left thumb contusion) and Luke Weaver (hamstring discomfort), with the two likely headed for testing when the team arrived back in New York on Monday.
No matter what the Yankees (36-22) did this weekend against the Dodgers (36-23), it was not going to make up for last October, as their only real chance for redemption awaits this fall.
But they at least ended a strong trip on a high note — their second West Coast trip in three weeks, going 10-5 combined — especially coming off Saturday’s shellacking.
“This team’s bounced back from whatever ‘tough’ losses we’ve had,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve had a handful of them in the first couple months of the year. [Saturday], I don’t know if it was tough, it was noisy though and I know a lot of people [were] making a lot of it. But that’s who they are and they went out against Yamamoto and Yarbs getting the ball and played a really great game to give us a really good trip going back home into an off-day.”
Ben Rice hits a home run during the Yankees’ win against the Dodgers on June 1.
Yamamoto entered the night having thrown a pair of gems in his two career starts against the Yankees, one of them in the World Series.
He had given up just one run (a Juan Soto homer) across 13 ¹/₃ innings on three hits and four walks while striking out 11.
But the Dodgers ace was not nearly as sharp on Sunday, and lacked his best splitter, as the Yankees knocked him out of the game in the fourth inning.
The right-hander needed 96 pitches to record 11 outs, with the Yankees getting to him for four runs on seven hits and three walks.
Domínguez delivered an RBI single against him for a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Dodgers tied it on Tommy Edman’s solo shot off Yarbrough in the second.
But Ben Rice provided the big blow against Yamamoto as he clobbered a splitter 425 feet for his 12th home run of the year, a two-run shot that put the Yankees ahead 3-1.
DJ LeMahieu hits an RBI single during the Yankees’ win against the Dodgers on June 1.
It marked only the third home run Yamamoto has given up on his splitter as a big leaguer.
“Gave us the lead back there and got the ball rolling a little bit,” Rice said. “He’s a tough guy to face. Really good command, he’s got good stuff. I think just being aggressive to our zones helped us and laying off some of those pitcher’s pitches early.”
Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells followed with two-out singles before Yamamoto spiked a splitter in the dirt, which allowed Volpe to score from third.
Aaron Judge celebrates with Ben Rice during the Yankees’ win against the Dodgers on June 1.
Tommy Edman celebrates after hitting a home run during the Dodgers’ loss to the Yankees on June 1.
In the fifth, the Yankees extended the lead to 6-1 as LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza delivered back-to-back RBI singles against former Yankees reliever Lou Trivino.
Jonathan Loáisiga gave up a pair of home runs in the seventh inning as the Dodgers crept closer, but LeMahieu — who came into the day in an 0-for-15 skid — capped off his first four-hit game since 2021 with an RBI double in the ninth to give Tim Hill (who entered once Weaver got hurt warming up) some extra breathing room to close it out.
“Anytime you lose like that [Saturday] and then you’re able to come back and win, it’s a big deal,” Wells said. “I don’t read too much into what’s happening right now, but I know we feel good about it and feel good about today.”
