Dodgers dominate Yankees 4-2 to take 3-0 World Series Lead

Walker Buehler delivered five scoreless innings, and Freddie Freeman launched a two-run homer as the Los Angeles Dodgers asserted their dominance in the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 4-2 on Monday night.

With this victory, the Dodgers now hold a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, News.Az reports, citing ESPN.

Now, to somehow win it all, the Yankees will have to become the second team ever -- after the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series -- to win four consecutive games with their season on the line in a best-of-seven series.

The Dodgers applied the pressure immediately. Shohei Ohtani, playing through a slightly dislocated left shoulder, drew a four-pitch walk to start the game. Two batters later, Freeman, playing through his own set of injuries throughout October, lined a two-run homer into the short porch in right field. It was Freeman's third home run in a stretch of six at-bats, immediately after going 32 consecutive postseason at-bats without so much as an extra-base hit. A sold-out Yankee Stadium fell silent -- and Buehler kept it that way.

The Yankees had a chance to score in the fourth, when Anthony Volpe lined a two-out single to left field, but Giancarlo Stanton was thrown out trying to score from second base. Teoscar Hernandez made a perfect one-hop throw to nail Stanton, who is among the slowest players in the sport. Just before that, Mookie Betts made a sprawling catch in right field to rob Jazz Chisholm Jr. Two innings later, Tommy Edman, who had made a perfect read to score on Betts' base hit in the third inning, stretched to record a forceout at second base.

The Dodgers -- plagued by injuries to their starting pitchers throughout the regular season -- now have five shutouts in these playoffs, tied with Cleveland in 2016 for the most in a single postseason. The Yankees were last shut out in the World Series during Game 6 in 2003, when the then-Florida Marlins clinched a title behind Josh Beckett's complete-game masterpiece. The Dodgers, who haven't won a full-season title since 1988, are one win away from repeating that feat.

News.Az