Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe saves season in Game 4 of grand slam

NEW YORK — Anthony Volpe grew up in New Jersey wanting to be like Derek Jeter and in 2009, as an eight-year-old, he threw toilet paper into the crowd at the New York Yankees’ ticker tape parade.

Well, the Yankees still have a very long way to go before they even think about celebrating the World Series. Volpe at least gave them life on Tuesday night, hitting a grand slam that saved their season. Yankees 11-4 win over Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Yankees still trail the Dodgers 3 games to 1 in the World Series. But neither team, trailing 3-0, could even get a sixth game going.

However, they at least have a pulse and a glimmer of hope that they can pull off a miracle.

“I hope we can tell this amazing story,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Game 3, “and shock the world.”

It was Volpe who opened the first chapter with a grand slam in the fourth inning, turning a 2–1 deficit into a 5–2 lead, the Yankees’ first lead since Game 1 of the World Series. It was as if the home run finally allowed the Yankees to relax. Before they knew it, rookie catcher Austin Wells hit a solo homer in the sixth and Gleyber Torres opened it with a three-run homer in the eighth.

But no hit was more important than Volpe’s, finally reminding the Yankees that they were still the Bombers of the Bronx.

Volpe, who made a base-running error in the third inning that could have cost the Yankees a run, came to the plate in the third inning with the Yankees missing another great scoring opportunity. Anthony Rizzo popped into position to stop Tommy Edman, and the Yankees were just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Volpe, who dreamed of moments like this and idolized Jeter, watched as Dodger pitcher Daniel Hudson took an 89-mph leadoff pitch. Volpe sent it 390 feet and landed in the first row of seats in left center field. The sold-out crowd of 49,354 at Yankee Stadium erupted, the Yankees hugged in the dugout and Volpe floated around the bases.

“That’s why you play this game, for moments and plays like these,” Volpe said.

And, of course, such dreams.

“After the ALCS, my mom tried to pinch me and help me realize it,” Volpe said. “It’s been a wild ride up to this point.”

Bye Freddie Freeman scored again for the Dodgers.After setting a World Series record by homering in his sixth straight game dating back to 2021 with Atlanta, it was Volpe who powered the Yankees’ offense on the night. He reached base three times Tuesday with a grand slam, a double, a walk and two stolen bases and has a .407 on-base percentage.

“I think he’s grown a lot this postseason,” Boone said. “I’m not surprised by the mental toughness he showed. And hopefully this will also be a kind of springboard for his growth in attack.

“We’ve seen some really consistent attacks from him. I think it’s all part of the growing process. His defense has been there from day one, since he got to the big leagues. Offense, I feel like we’re going to see a really strong offensive player in a couple of years.

“It doesn’t always skyrocket for some people, but I feel like he’s moving the needle really well, and I feel like these playoffs are showing that to some extent.”

The Yankees, who will start Gerrit Cole in Game 5 on Wednesday (8:08 p.m. ET FOX), believe that if he pitches another gem like he did in Game 1 (6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run). , they can win the series. back to Los Angeles, where Carlos Rodon will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

According to Boone, they have makeup and character that at least give this series some tension.

“We’ve certainly faced our share of adversity this year,” Boone said, “and these guys never wavered through good times or bad. I’ve been working for seven years now, we had many, in my opinion, good, strong and close clubs (but) this one takes over. These guys play for each other.

“It’s remarkable to see how close they are, how much they trust each other, how much they are drawn to each other. It has served them well as we’ve gone through the ups and downs of the season and hopefully will serve them well for the rest of this series.”

While they are painfully aware that no team in World Series history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, as much as it pains them to say it, the Boston Red Sox are their role models, the only team in postseason history to overcame the score 3:0. The deficit was 0 when they came back to beat the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.

“We have to get inspiration from somewhere,” Rizzo said. “This has happened before.”

This is the reason why Rizzo gave a short command speech before Game 3 to his teammates, telling them that he was not ready for this season to end and that this might be the last time they would be together.

Stealing the words of Kevin Millar from the 2004 Red Sox: “Don’t let us win tonight.”

“We have Gerrit Cole hiding,” Rizzo said. “We’ll piss Rodon off in Game 6 if we can get there. And Game 7 is always crap. There’s a Game 7 documentary out right now, right?”

At least the dream lives on at night.

“I think we’re just trying to remind ourselves that anything can happen,” Cole said. “We told ourselves a lot… there’s a lot of baseball left.”

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