NEW YORK (AP) — Fifteen years after little Anthony Volpe watched the Yankees parade with the World Series trophy, he saved their season and kept alive hopes for an improbable title. New York had moved closer to getting swept in the World Series when Freddie Freeman hit another first-inning home run.
Volpe, a New York native whose family idolizes the pinstripes going back generations, turned on a knee-high slider and perhaps reshaped the Series, too. His third-inning grand slam sparked the Yankees to an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night that forced a Game 5.
“The place was shaking. I felt the ground literally shaking,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells said.
Wells and Gleyber Torres added homers for the Yankees, who broke open the game with a five-run eighth.
New York, which had scored just seven runs in the first three games, had some of its swagger back. Wells spoke after the game wearing a “Fully Operational Death Star” Yankees T-shirt, referring to general manager Brian Cashman’s 2018 quip.