Watch: Shohei Ohtani outduels Aaron Judge with 2 homers and the Dodgers rally to beat the Yankees 8-5

Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs, including a solo shot leading off a four-run sixth inning when the Dodgers rallied to take the lead, and Los Angeles defeated the New York Yankees 8-5 in their World Series rematch on Friday night.

Aaron Judge and Ohtani became the first reigning MVPs to homer in the first inning of a game.

Judge’s 19th homer of the season traveled 446 feet into dead center off Tony Gonsolin (3-1).

“They were just taking really good swings. The slider to Judge backed up on me,” said Gonsolin of his four homers allowed and first inning blast to Judge. “I thought I made some good adjustments later in the game. They definitely could have been [picking up my pitches out of the windup], so I made the switch to pitch out of the stretch.”

Ohtani answered with a 417-foot shot on his first pitch from Max Fried.

“I think both teams started on a really good note,” Ohtani said through a translator. “I thought it was important to be able to score a run in that situation knowing momentum is really important in a game like today.”

Austin Wells homered and Trent Grisham added a two-run shot in the second, giving New York a 4-1 lead. Paul Goldschmidt, another former MVP, homered leading off the third, making it 5-2.

But just like in Game 5 of last year’s World Series, the Yankees blew the lead.

Ohtani’s homer keyed the offense in the sixth, when the Dodgers batted around. Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith singled before Freddie Freeman’s RBI double chased Fried.

Andy Pages followed with a game-tying RBI single off Jonathan Loáisiga (0-1). With the bases loaded, Tim Hill walked Michael Conforto on six pitches, forcing in Pages with the go-ahead run to make it 6-5.

The Dodgers tacked on two more in the seventh. Will Smith singled, Freeman doubled and both scored on Pages’ two-run single off Yerry De Los Santos. Freeman was safe in a close play at the plate after he made a wide turn into the grass coming around third.

“That was just a pretty good ball game right there,” said Freeman of the contest. “To beat Max Fried, who is probably one of the top five pitchers in the game right now, that’s hard to do.”

Alex Vesia pitched the ninth to earn his second save.

The teams were meeting for the first time since the Dodgers beat the Yankees to win their eighth world championship.

Key moment

Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott came on with runners at the corners in the eighth and retired pinch-hitter DJ LeMahieu on a flyout to center for the third out. Scott has been rocky lately with blown saves.

Key stat

Gonsolin gave up four homers, one shy of his team record set on Aug. 18, 2023, against Florida.

Up next

Yankees RHP Will Warren (3-2, 4.09 ERA) starts Saturday against Dodgers RHP Landon Knack (2-2, 5.22).

Source: NBC Los Angeles