"We took advantage of every mistake Yankees made" - Teoscar Hernandez on Dodgers' come-from-behind win in Game 5 to lift World Series
After three years of postseason heartbreak, the Los Angeles Dodgers bounced back on Wednesday, taking their eighth World Series title, winning 7-6 in Game 5 of the Fall Classic in a comeback victory for the ages. It could be said that they were partly handed the win by the New York Yankees who made errors in defense.
The Yankees picked right where they had left off in Game 4. In the very first innings, against starter Jack Flaherty, Aaron Judge hit a two-run blast as the Yankee Stadium crowd erupted at the sight of their captain hitting a home run in the World Series. He was then backed up by Jazz Chisholm Jr. who went back-to-back.
Alex Verdugo drove in a run in the next innings before Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run of his own in the third. It was all going well for the Yanks till the end of the fourth with a sizeable 5-0 lead, but things quickly changed in the next frame.
There were two big errors from Judge and Anthony Volpe on defense. With two outs in the innings, Gerrit Cole didn't back up Anthony Rizzo, which gave Mookie Betts an RBI single. Freddie Freeman got one of his own before Teoscar Hernandez put the lid with a two-run RBI double that tied things up. The Dodgers took the lead in the eighth and closed out the win.
Speaking to FOX, Teoscar (wrongly marked as Mookie Betts in the X post) spoke about making the most of the errors New York made.
"We just took advantage of every mistake that they made in that inning," Hernandez said about the fifth innings.
Mookie Betts claims the 'love' in the Dodgers clubhouse pushed them over the line
Teoscar's partner in the outfield, Mookie Betts, acknowledged the special bond everyone in the Dodgers clubhouse has built over the course of the season. He said that more than the resilience, it was their willingness to stick together and get the job done.
“We’re obviously resilient, but there’s so much love in the clubhouse that won this game today,” Betts said. “That’s what it was. It was love; it was grit. I mean, it was just a beautiful thing. I’m just proud of us, and I’m happy for us.”
The Dodgers head back to Los Angeles, not for a Game 6 but for the World Series parade. They missed out on one when they won their seventh title in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.