Slumping star Aaron Judge and Yankees hope to break out when World Series shifts to NY for Game 3

AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Regardless of Shohei Ohtani’s status, Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees need to start hitting if they’re going to climb back into this World Series.

New York has mustered five runs over 19 innings in two agonizing road losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers, batting .143 with runners in scoring position (2 for 14) and stranding 17 overall.

Maybe a return home will unleash a slumping Judge and the rest of these Bronx Bombers when the best-of-seven Series shifts to the Big Apple, where the Yankees went 3-1 during the American League playoffs.

“We’ve been through a lot of tough moments throughout the year. So I think we’ve been there,” slugger Juan Soto said. “We know how (to take) a couple punches in the face and just keep battling and keep going. We can go home and do our thing.”

With a home run from Freddie Freeman in each game, the Dodgers hold a 2-0 lead as the World Series returns to Yankee Stadium on Monday night for the first time since Nov. 4, 2009.

Hideki Matsui homered and knocked in six runs that night to wrap up Series MVP honors as New York clinched its 27th championship with a 7-3 victory over Philadelphia.

This time, the Yankees are looking to stage a comeback that would at least send this highly anticipated matchup back to Los Angeles for a potential Game 6.

“The Bronx is a special place. They back us. They pump us up. They put pressure on other teams,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “When that stadium is rocking, we feel it. We need to get that energy when we come in on Monday and get it going.”

Mookie Betts and the Dodgers are two wins shy of their second World Series title in five years and the franchise’s eighth overall.

After an injury scare, it appears Ohtani will be in the lineup for Game 3 as long as he can tolerate any lingering pain. The superstar slugger partially dislocated his left shoulder sliding into second base when he was caught stealing to end the seventh inning of Saturday night’s 4-2 victory in Game 2.

Ohtani planned to take swings in an indoor batting cage at Yankee Stadium during the team’s workout Sunday night.

“I just don’t see him not playing Game 3,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “If he feels good enough to go, then I see no reason why he wouldn’t be in there.”

Ohtani did not travel with the club to New York in order to undergo imaging. He was on a separate flight.

“He’s the best player in the game, and to see him on the ground in pain, it’s not a good feeling for sure,” teammate Tommy Edman said Saturday night. “We’re hopeful he recovers quickly.”

With most players wearing ski hats, the Dodgers held an off-day practice under the lights at Yankee Stadium — same as they did 12 days ago across town at Citi Field ahead of Game 3 in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.

Meanwhile, the Yankees spent Sunday traveling cross-country and were not available to the media.

It’s expected to be about 53 degrees at first pitch and falling slightly Monday night, after the first two games were played in sunny Southern California with temperatures in the mid-70s.

Son of a team pilot, Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for New York against fellow right-hander Walker Buehler (1-6, 5.38 ERA), who makes his Yankee Stadium debut.

Schmidt also started Game 3 in each of the first two playoff rounds, compiling a 3.86 ERA over 9 1/3 innings in a pair of no-decisions against Kansas City and Cleveland.

Both those outings came on the road, with the series versus the Royals tied 1-all, and the Yankees leading the Guardians 2-0.

“Obviously, it’s a dream come true being able to pitch the first game at home in a pivotal game,” Schmidt said. “I’m obviously very excited to get out there, but I know I have a job to do. We’re trying to win this World Series. I think for me I’m just trying to go out there and execute and do my job.”

A two-time All-Star, the 30-year-old Buehler returned from his second Tommy John surgery in May and then missed nearly two months this season with a hip injury before coming back in mid-August.

He also has started a pair of Game 3s in this postseason, allowing six runs over five innings in a 6-5 loss at San Diego and pitching four innings in an 8-0 win for Los Angeles on the road against the Mets.

Buehler, who enjoys pitching in cold weather, is 3-4 with a 3.25 ERA in 17 career postseason starts. He’s allowed just one run and five hits with 17 strikeouts over 13 innings in two previous World Series outings, in 2018 against Boston and 2020 vs. Tampa Bay — both in Game 3.

“We’re looking forward to Walker because Walker’s a big-game pitcher,” said Freeman, who has homered in his last four World Series games dating to 2021 with Atlanta.

The previous two times these old October rivals squared off in the World Series, the team that lost the first two games away from home came back to win the next four and take home the title.

New York turned the trick in 1978, followed by the Dodgers in 1981.

And the last two times the Yankees fell behind 2-0 in a World Series, they rallied to win three straight games. They took four in a row to win the 1996 championship against Atlanta, and went up 3-2 in 2001 before dropping Games 6 and 7 in Arizona.

“All the momentum and the hoopla and all that stuff, I think it’s just learning how to kind of embrace that. I think pretty early in my career I learned how to do that in some ways,” Buehler said. “But I think that’s the mental hurdle, and then it’s kind of the same game, just on a bigger stage.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb