There were two outs during the blowout at the expense of Nestor Cortes, on a fast inside.
The result brought a packed house of 52,394 people to their feet at Dodger Stadium.
“I can’t believe what happened,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. It’s that kind of moment that gives the World Series its character.”
Gavin Lux drew a walk after an out. Tommy Edman followed with an infield single, then Chris Taylor replaced Lux on base.
Shohei Ohtani was called out on a foul ball, then Mookie Betts was awarded an intentional walk. Freeman followed it up with a homer on the first shot he saw from Cortes.
“We can’t just sit here and sulk,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. We have to take something from it, see what we can do better and try to win the next game.”
New York had broken the 2-2 deadlock at the top of the 10th inning, when an option from Anthony Volpe pushed Jazz Chisolm to the plate. The latter had just stolen two bases, after hitting a single.
Freeman hit a triple in the first inning.
He has missed three games since the start of the playoffs due to a sore right ankle.
There have only been two other occasions when a home run ended a game in the World Series: Kirk Gibson with the Dodgers in Game 1 in 1988, against the A’s, and Joe Carter to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to victory. in six games in 1993, at the expense of the Philadelphia Phillies.
“This kind of thing, you think about it at 5 years old in your backyard,” Freeman said. It’s a dream come true. That said, it’s only one victory. We need three more.”
The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole allowed just one run and four hits in six innings. He struck out four batters and did not allow a walk.
Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He had six batters at bat and allowed one walk.
Yankees Giancarlo Stanton homered in his fourth straight game. He has six long balls and 13 RBIs since the start of the series.
Stanton grew up about 20 miles north of Dodgers Stadium.
Match number 2 will be presented Saturday evening in Los Angeles.
The starting pitchers will be Carlos Rodon and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
