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There was only one word to describe the five-run fifth inning that resurrected the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, and leave it to the man who produced the most quirky hit of the implausible rally to deliver it.
“Crazy!” Mookie Betts screamed, his eyes stinging from the beer and champagne teammates poured over his head after a stunning 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees clinched the eighth championship in Dodgers franchise history. “It was crazy how it unfolded. I mean, you gotta play a clean game to beat us.”
The Yankees did not play a clean game Wednesday night, bunching most of their mistakes in a fifth inning that had to be one of the ugliest in postseason history, one that wiped out the 5-0 lead they built on Aaron Judge’s two-run home run in the first inning and solo shots by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first and Giancarlo Stanton in the third.
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New York ace Gerrit Cole needed only 49 pitches to cruise through four hitless innings, and his defense actually saved a potential run in the fourth when Judge, with Betts aboard after a leadoff walk, raced to the wall in left-center field to make a leaping catch of a Freddie Freeman drive before slamming into the wall.
But the Yankees suffered an epic defensive meltdown in the top of the fifth, committing two physical errors and one mental gaffe that allowed the Dodgers to score five unearned runs and tie the score 5-5.
“When you’re given extra outs and you capitalize in that kind of game, that’s huge,” said Freeman, who was named series most valuable player after batting .300 (six for 20) with four homers, a triple and 12 RBIs in five games. “For us to get it back to even, you just could feel the momentum [shifting].”
Kiké Hernández, who has a career .391 average (nine for 23) with three doubles, a triple and a home run off Cole, led off the fifth with a single to right-center field, breaking up Cole’s no-hitter.
Tommy Edman followed with a sinking line drive to shallow center. Judge, who did not commit an error in 158 regular-season games and 13 postseason games, raced in and had plenty of time to catch what seemed to be a routine fly ball.
But Judge appeared to peek at the runner at the last second and missed it, the ball clanking off his glove and kicking to his right. Judge recovered and made a strong throw to second, but Hernández beat the throw — barely — with an aggressive feet-first slide.
“They always say things even out in baseball,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “I never believed that, but I don’t know, man … the guy makes an unbelievable catch, and then he misses one. So maybe things do even out.”
The error put two on with no outs for Will Smith, who chopped a grounder to the shortstop hole that Anthony Volpe fielded cleanly. But the Yankees shortstop spiked a throw to third base in an attempt to force the lead runner, an error that loaded the bases with no outs.
“I know they gave Volpe an error on that play, but if you slow it down and you see how Kiké ran to third base, that’s what set up that play,” Freeman said of Hernández, who veered slightly to his right and into Volpe’s throwing lane as he approached third. “That’s him having an unbelievable base-running IQ there.”
Cole stiffened, striking out Gavin Lux with a 99-mph fastball and Shohei Ohtani with a nasty 87-mph knuckle-curve, moving to within one out of escaping the jam.
But the inning took another bizarre turn — literally — when Betts hit a slow squibber toward first base that took a slight left-hand turn as it approached Anthony Rizzo, who fielded the ball cleanly to his right, about 15 feet from the bag.
Cole initially broke toward first base to cover but inexplicably stopped between the mound and the bag, hanging Rizzo out to dry. Rizzo couldn’t beat Betts to the bag, and Betts was credited with an RBI infield single that cut New York’s lead to 5-1.
“Mooke hits a squibber, so Rizz couldn’t really run through it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He had to stay there and make sure he secured the catch because of the spin on the ball. And I think Gerrit … he was kind of spent almost working his way out of it, and he just didn’t react quick enough to get over.”
Betts wasn’t quite sure what happened on the play.
“I just know I hit it, and I had to run,” Betts said, “and I’m glad Cole didn’t cover first.”
Cole got ahead of Freeman with a 1-and-2 count and Freeman fouled off a 93-mph changeup before getting just enough of a 99.5-mph fastball on the inside corner to fist a flare to shallow center for a two-run single that cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-3.
“I got down to two strikes and was able to foul off that changeup, which was huge,” Freeman said. “Because in those situations, you’ve got to foul off pitchers’ pitches. I was able to foul it off and see another pitch, and thankfully I hit the ball up the middle.”
Cleanup man Teoscar Hernández then crushed a 1-and-2 slider 404 feet to the base of the center-field wall, out of Judge’s reach, for a two-run double, with Freeman, sore right ankle and all, scoring from first to tie the game 5-5. Muncy walked before Cole, with his 38th pitch of the inning, got Kiké Hernández to ground out to end the inning.
“This whole game, really, this whole series, there were a lot of crazy things that transpired,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations. “That’s the magic and the beauty and the theater of October baseball.”
There was more to come. The Yankees scored once in the sixth for a 6-5 lead. The Dodgers countered with two in the eighth for a 7-6 lead, Kiké Hernández and Edman starting the rally with singles and Lux and Betts knocking in runs with sacrifice flies.
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Seemingly indomitable reliever Blake Treinen threw a season-high 42 pitches while giving up just one hit, striking out three and walking one to record seven outs from the sixth through eighth innings.
Game 3 starter and winner Walker Buehler then came out of the bullpen to throw a one-two-three ninth for the save, spreading his arms out wide after his game-ending strikeout of Alex Verdugo as teammates rushed in from their positions and out of the dugout to engulf the right-hander in one giant human embrace.
“Tonight was basically the epitome of our season,” Muncy said amid a wild celebration in an alcohol-drenched visiting clubhouse. “We got dealt a couple blows, we came back. Got dealt another blow, came back. It’s just guy after guy coming out, doing the job, grinding away.
“Get dealt some injury news, guys come back, more injury news, guys come back, and yet, we kept persevering. This game, literally, was our season.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.