NEW YORK (AP) — Max Muncy hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning on Gerrit Cole’s 103rd and final pitch, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night in their first game in the Bronx since winning the 2024 World Series.Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 with a pair of warning-track flyouts, five days after the four-time MVP had a lubricant injected into his irritated left knee. Los Angeles began the second half by improving to a big league-best 62-36. New York (54-43) dropped to 18-20 without captain Aaron Judge, still sidelined by a fractured rib.On a night with smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires, New York led on an unearned run against Roki Sasaki in the fourth. Jasson Domínguez doubled, took third when center fielder Andy Pages dropped the ball while picking it up by the warning track and scored on Dalton Rushing’s passed ball. Cole (3-5), who struck out eight, issued his first walk to Mookie Betts starting the seventh.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to the mound and left in the 35-year-old former Cy Young Award winner. Muncy fell behind 0-2 and with a 2-2 count on the seventh pitch drove a hanging slider into the right-field second deck for his 18th home run.Cole had a 5-0 lead over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2024 Series before errors by the pitcher and Judge in center led to five unearned runs in the fifth. Los Angeles went on to win 7-6 and take the title.
