NEW YORK — Freddie Freeman tied George Springer‘s record by homering for the fifth consecutive game in the World Series, a two-run shot off Clark Schmidt of the New York Yankees in the first inning to put the Los Angeles Dodgers up 2-0. Angels in game three on Monday night.
Seeking their second championship in five years, the Dodgers arrived in New York with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Shohei Ohtani, two days after suffering a partial dislocation of his left shoulder, drew a four-ball walk to open the game. After Mookie Betts was retired with a fly ball, Freeman disappeared a high cut fastball on a 1-2 count, depositing the ball in the fifth row of the first level of the right field stands.
Freeman became the third player to hit a home run in the first three games of a World Series. The others were Hank Bauer in 1958 and Barry Bonds in 2002.
He homered in Atlanta’s last two games against Houston in the 2021 World Series, and has hit it in the first three of the current edition. Eight-time All-Star and MVP of the National League in 2020, the 35-year-old first baseman has totaled seven RBIs in this Fall Classic.
Freeman suffered a sprained right ankle on September 26 against San Diego while trying to avoid being tagged at first base by San Diego’s Luis Arráez, and missed the final three games of the regular season.
His grand slam in the 10th inning of Game 1 on Friday gave the Dodgers a 6-3 victory. It was his first home run since September 16. He followed Teoscar Hernández for back-to-back home runs in the third inning of game two.
Springer hit his home runs between the fourth and seventh games of 2017 when the Astros beat the Dodgers for the title, and then another to open the 2019 series against Washington.
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