More information on what Dodger manager Dave Roberts called Shohei Ohtani’s “little left shoulder subluxation” could be coming Sunday as both World Series teams conduct workouts at Yankee Stadium.
The Dodger designated hitter suffered the injury attempting to steal second base in the seventh inning of Saturday’s 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees and will undergo an MRI, Roberts said in his postgame news conference.
“We’re going to get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow, and then we’ll know more in the next couple days,” Roberts said. “But the strength was great. The range of motion good. So we’re encouraged. But obviously I can’t speculate because we don’t (have) the scans yet. So once we get the scans, we’ll know more. Again, with the strength, the range of motion good, that’s certainly a positive.”
Ohtani remained on the ground after being tagged out on the slide, clutching his left arm and wincing in pain before being led off the field by trainers.
“I think he slides on his left knee, right foot forward, that’s my assumption, and then he probably — as he put his hand down, it probably subluxed out,” Roberts said.
A shoulder subluxation is a partial dislocation of the shoulder joint.
“Obviously when you get any one of your players that goes down, it’s concerning,” Roberts said. “But after … the strength test, I felt much better about it.”
The victory gave the Dodgers a two games to none lead. Game 3 in the best-of-seven series will be played Monday at Yankee Stadium.
This is the 57th time a team has taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series. Of the previous 56, 45 have gone on to win the World Series, 80.4%. The Dodgers have held 2-0 leads in four previous World Series, going on to win in 1963 and 1988 but lose in 1956, when they were based in Brooklyn, and 1978.
The Dodgers combined Yoshinobu Yamamoto limiting the Yankees to one hit over 6 1/3 innings and three home runs, including back-to-back shots by Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman in the third inning, for the victory.
Yamamoto retired the final 11 batters he faced after Juan Soto hit a four-seam fastball 386 feet over the right field fence in the third inning, tying the score, 1-1. Yamamoto (2-0) struck out four and walked two as the Dodgers won for the fourth time in his four postseason starts.
“I thought the first few innings we took a lot of good at-bats against him, made him work some longer at-bats,” Yankee manager Aaron Boone said. “Then kind of once he got a little bit of that lead, he kind of got into a rhythm, really did a good job of attacking at strike one. It was hard to be patient with him when he was on the attack and getting ahead.
“I thought his stuff was good. I thought his fastball was good, slowing us down with a little curveball, and then the slider and the split of course. I thought he was on his game.”
After Roberts removed Yamamoto, relievers Anthony Banda and Michael Kopech held New York hitless over the next 1 2/3 innings, with Banda hitting Anthony Rizzo with a pitch for the Yankees’ only baserunner over that span.
Blake Treinen entered the game in the ninth inning and allowed a leadoff single to Soto on a full-count sinker. Soto advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored one out later when Giancarlo Stanton’s one hopper hit third base, popped into the air and went over third baseman Max Muncy’s head into left field for a single.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a single and Treinen hit Rizzo with a full-count four-seam fastball to load the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe on a 2-2 sweeper for the second out.
Alex Vesia, the fifth Dodger pitcher, relieved Treinen and retired pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a fly out to center fielder Tommy Edman on his first pitch for his first save of the postseason.
The Dodgers opened the scoring on Edman’s 355-foot home run over the left field fence on a 2-0 four-seam fastball leading off the second.
Left-hander Carlos Rodón (1-2), the first of five Yankee pitchers, was charged with the loss, allowing four runs and six hits over 3 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking three.
“I thought Rodo had good stuff,” Boone said.
Hernández hit a 1-0 four-seam fastball from Rodón 392 feet over the center field fence to drive in Mookie Betts, who singled with two outs in the third. Freeman hit a full-count four-seam fastball 401 feet over the right center field fence.
The back-to-back home runs by Hernández and Freeman were the 19th in World Series history and second by the Dodgers. Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager accomplished the feat in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1981 World Series at Dodger Stadium, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Yankees.
It was the fourth time a team hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in a World Series game and first time since the San Diego Padres in the fifth inning of Game 1 in the 1998 World Series against the Yankees.
Freeman became the first Dodger and 11th player to hit home runs in each of the first two games of a World Series. He hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 1 to give the Dodgers a 6-3 victory.
The Dodgers out-hit the Yankees 8-4, with Betts, Hernández and Edman each getting two hits. Soto had two hits for the Yankees. The Dodgers left four runners on base, New York six. The Dodgers were hitless in three at-bats with runners in scoring position, the Yankees 1-for-6.
“In a game where we really got shut down there in the middle innings, our compete to the very end was really good,” Boone said. “We gave ourselves a chance to get right back in it and even win that game off a very good reliever. I loved the at-bats there at the end, the compete, the fight. I thought even Trevy got off a good swing off Vesia.
“No one said it’s going to be easy. It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch. We’ve just got to keep at it.”