NEW YORK — Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole spent Tuesday afternoon preparing for a game they weren’t certain would happen.
A few hours later, Anthony Volpe ensured the World Series would continue with Game 5 on Wednesday, when Flaherty pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cole starts for the New York Yankees.
The Dodgers held a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series entering play on Tuesday, but New York cruised to an 11-4 victory in Game 4, sparked by Volpe’s third-inning grand slam.
Another Yankees win on Wednesday would create some history. Of the 24 previous teams that fell behind 3-0 in the World Series, 21 were swept in four games and the other three were eliminated in Game 5.
If New York can extend the series again, Game 6 would be played Friday in Los Angeles.
The Yankees hit .186 in the first three games and scored a total of seven runs. The Dodgers then grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Wednesday before Volpe sparked a comeback.
“They’re just like, ‘Let’s go get it,'” New York manager Aaron Boone said of his players. “Again, these guys love playing with each other, and you kind of got that sense before the game. And obviously as the game unfolded, it kind of got better and better tonight.
“It’s one game. We wanted to get it to tomorrow, and we’ve done that. Excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”
The Yankees are now hitting .206 in the series after posting their highest-scoring World Series game since a 12-2 win over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1978 Fall Classic.
Besides Volpe, Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres homered for New York. Aaron Judge hit an RBI single and walked, and every New York player except Anthony Rizzo reached base at least once.
“We’re just going to play our game,” Volpe said. “We feel like if we do that and we play the way we know we’re capable of playing, they can — they’re obviously a good team, and they can do what they do and whatever they want to do. We just have so much confidence in us that we play … that way, we feel like we’ll win.”
The Dodgers had few highlights other than Freddie Freeman setting a pair of major league records by homering in his sixth straight World Series game and becoming the first player to homer in the opening four games of a Fall Classic. Los Angeles mustered just six hits and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“We’re up 3-1 right now,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said. “We feel pretty good about it, but you know that they’re going to fight. It doesn’t matter what the score is and it doesn’t matter when it is; they’re going to fight. So, I mean, no lead is safe until you win the fourth game.”
Flaherty (1-2, 6.10 ERA in the postseason) allowed eight runs in three innings during Game 5 of the NLCS against the New York Mets on Oct. 18, but he opened the World Series by allowing two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Flaherty departed his first World Series start due to hamstring tightness he felt on the pitch before allowing a two-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton on his final delivery, but he said he feels fine now.
“It’s caused a little extra work that I normally wouldn’t have to do, but I’m feeling good today, felt good yesterday during my bullpen (session),” Flaherty said before Game 4. “At this point, it’s not anything I’m worried about.”
Cole (1-0, 2.82) will make his fourth career World Series start and first in an elimination game. Cole is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in World Series starts, and he took a no-decision in Game 1 when he allowed one run on four hits in six innings while throwing 88 pitches.
Cole was not a consideration to start Game 4 on three days of rest because his season began with a 2 1/2-month absence caused by an elbow injury.
“I feel now like I’m in good shape,” he said. “I have a reserve while I’m pitching. So if I need to dip into the tank, I can go get it, and then I can go get it again. It’s not like a one-time thing.
“And then familiarity both with myself and my delivery, how I’m moving, how well I’m concentrating the ball in the areas of the strike zone that I want to get. I’m … missing east and west very rarely anymore. Things are more defined.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
