Yankees rally after beatdown, top Dodgers 7-3 to avoid sweep in World Series rematch

They didn’t quite return the favor after Saturday’s beatdown at Dodger Stadium, but the New York Yankees are leaving Los Angeles with a win after all.

The Yankees, after a wild 18-2 blowout loss on Saturday, rolled to a solid 7-3 win over the reigning World Series champions on Sunday afternoon. That gave them their first win of the three-game series and successfully avoided the sweep. The Yankees are one of just three teams in the league, along with the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds, who have yet to be swept this season.

The Yankees jumped out in front right away on Sunday afternoon after Trent Grisham scored on an error following a Jasson Dominguez single. While Tommy Edman hit a solo home run in the second for the Dodgers to tie it up, the Yankees responded in the very next inning. Ben Rice hit a deep two-run shot to center, which suddenly put them up 3-1. Anthony Volpe scored on a wild pitch from Yoshinobu Yamamoto that inning, too.

Yamamoto lasted just 3.2 innings on the mound for the Dodgers in what was his shortest start of the season. He gave up seven hits and four earned runs.

The Yankees added two more runs in the fifth after both DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza each hit RBI singles. That gave them a 6-1 lead at the time, which just about put the Dodgers away. Though both Andy Pages and Max Muncy hit solo shots for the Dodgers in the seventh, the comeback attempt started too late. The Yankees made it out of that inning, and then quickly fought through the final two to escape with the four-run win. LeMahieu hit a deep RBI double in the final inning to add one last run for good measure. He went 4-for-5 on the night in what was his first four-hit game since 2021.

The Dodgers won the opening game of the series 8-5 on Friday, thanks to a pair of home runs from star Shohei Ohtani. Then came Saturday's stunner, which was powered by seven RBIs from Muncy. Their 18 runs was the most that the Dodgers have ever put up against the Yankees in history, too. Things got so bad at one point that Ohtani even hilariously lost interest.

The Dodgers, even with Sunday's loss, sit at 36-23 on the season. They lead the NL West, and have won four of their last six games. They'll open a four-game series with the Mets on Monday night.

Though the Yankees are still in a great position in the AL at this point of the season — they hold a 36-22 record and are leading the AL East — it's clear that the Dodgers are still one step ahead of them after this past weekend's series in Southern California.