Bottom Of Yankees Order Leads The Club To Season-Saving Win

The depth of the Dodgers’ lineup has them within one win of a championship.

On Tuesday night, the back end of the Yankees’ lineup ensured the Dodgers stayed one win away from a championship.

Seventh-place hitter Anthony Volpe hit a grand slam in the third inning and ninth-place hitter Alex Verdugo’s 11-pitch at-bat sparked a five-run eighth inning as the Yankees avoided being swept with an 11-4 win in Game 4.

Eighth-place hitter Austin Wells also homered in the sixth to begin providing the insurance for the Yankees, who went ahead for good on Volpe’s homer but had to navigate six straight at-bats with the tying or go-ahead runs at the plate after Freddie Freeman (who else?) pulled the Dodgers within 5-4 via his fifth-inning RBI fielder’s choice.

The trio of Volpe, Wells and Verdugo finished 5-for-10 with seven RBIs, two walks and no strikeouts in 12 plate appearances. The Yankees’ 7-8-9 hitters — Volpe, Wells and Verdugo in addition to first baseman Anthony Rizzo and backup catcher Jose Trevino — entered Tuesday batting just .118 (4-for-34) with one homer, three RBIs, three walks and 12 strikeouts in the first three World Series games.

“I think there were a lot of big stepping stones,” Verdugo said Tuesday night. “There’s a lot of guys starting to feel a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more rhythm at the plate and getting their swings. So for us, that’s big.”

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The biggest at-bat may have been Verdugo’s battle against Brent Honeywell Jr. As pivotal as Volpe’s homer was, he’d spent most of the postseason producing encouraging plate appearances. The shortstop entered Tuesday hitting .244 (10-of-41) but with nine walks and 13 strikeouts.

But Verdugo was batting .195 (8-of-41) with one homer and five RBIs to go along with five walks and six strikeouts in his first 12 playoff games. His homer was a two-run shot with two outs in the ninth inning Monday, when the Yankees fell 4-2.

On Tuesday, the Yankees led 6-4 with one out and Wells and Volpe on second and third when Verdugo fell into an 0-2 hole. He fouled off six pitches and took two others before hitting a sharp grounder to second, where a drawn-in Gavin Lux couldn’t throw out Volpe at the plate.

“I think just the biggest thing is just fighting and going up there and competing,” Verdugo said. “I was just trying to do everything I could to prolong that at-bat and leave it with a productive out. Get guys on third with less than two outs, you’ve got to find a way to get that run in.

“And if we don’t (and) we end up losing that game by one run, you kind of kick yourself in the butt.”

Gleyber Torres ended any possibility of a Dodgers rally by hitting a three-run homer three pitches later.

“I feel like that was a good one, to get a run in,” Verdugo said. “And ‘GT’ at the top, kind of feel free to take a ‘GT’ hack. And he did that.”

Almost as importantly, Juan Soto followed with a double and scored on Aaron Judge’s single. While Torres and Soto have been terrific this month — they are batting a combined .290 with six homers, 17 RBIs and 21 walks against just 15 strikeouts — the RBI was the first of the World Series for Judge, who is hitting .152 in the playoffs and .198 in 217 career postseason at-bats.

If Judge is stirring along with the bottom of the order, the Yankees become a much more dangerous candidate to make a run at mounting the first comeback from a three games to none deficit in the World Series.

The hitters occupying the 7-8-9 spots in the order are batting .255 with eight homers and 20 RBIs in 149 at-bats overall this postseason for the Dodgers, who have scored 88 runs overall — the ninth-most in playoff history.

It took the Yankees until they were on the edge of elimination to get similar production from the bottom of their order. Now that just has to happen three more times.

“They are the guys that are going to set the table for the big guys,” Soto said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be where we’re at right now. I think they are a huge part of this.

“We need every single guy in that lineup.”