Dodgers 18, Yankees 2: Bats explode early behind Muncy & Kim homers, Knack cruises through 6

Chad Moriyama 05/31/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

(Via @Dodgers)

After mounting a surprising comeback to take the series opener against the Yankees, it sure seemed like the Dodgers were playing with house money today. Well instead of relaxing, the bats absolutely floored it, amassing 10 runs through the first two innings and adding on a bit late, allowing them to cruise to a 18-2 victory.

That’s a series win for the Dodgers before their ace even pitches, and four wins in their last five.

======

Yankees starter Will Warren came into today’s start with a solid run over the last month or so, but man things did not go well for him at all in this game. Shohei Ohtani led the game off with a single, Freddie Freeman made it two on with a one-out single, and Will Smith followed with another single to drive in Ohtani to start the scoring. Max Muncy followed with yet another single to score Freeman, and after an Andy Pages walk loaded the bases, Michael Conforto drilled a sac fly to push the lead to 3-0 before Tommy Edman singled to score Muncy to make it 4-0.

Almost amusingly, after Hyeseong Kim walked to reload the bases, it was Ohtani who struck out to end the 40-pitch frame.

Warren was on the verge of being removed in the 1st, but he remained in and started the 2nd with back-to-back walks to Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie, then with one out it was Muncy smashing his fifth dong of the year to make it 7-0. Suddenly, the glasses have him looking closer to his old self.

That was finally the end of the road for Warren, though the pen didn’t help a whole lot, as a two-out Conforto walk was followed by a Tommy Tanks double to score him. Kim then took his first at-bat against a lefty pitcher all year and responded by working an eight-pitch battle and then drilling a two-run homer to right to make it 10-0.

Teoscar was getting a bit too excited.

Teoscar got too excited with the seeds.

[image or embed]

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 2:32 PM

——

All of this definitely was helpful to Landon Knack, who started the game with a four-pitch walk, but got Aaron Judge of all people to ground into a double play, allowing him to face the minimum in the 1st. Knack followed with a clean 2nd, but he faced trouble to start the 3rd, giving up a single and walk to start. However, he got a huge boost on a soft liner to Kim, who made a great defensive play to double up the runner and help Knack get through a scoreless frame.

That proved all the more important when the Yankees did get to Judge, as he smashed a solo shot to get the Yankees on the board at 10-1 in the 4th. Chris Paul hits a huge three and all that.

After he should’ve struck out the lead-off batter and then the side when two more strikeouts followed, instead he issued a lead-off walk thanks to the umpire and got in trouble with a two-out double, but managed to work around that jam in the 5th as well.

——

Back to the bats, who were scoreless in the 3rd and 4th, but started the 5th with Kim and Ohtani singles, and then a one-out double from Freddie that scored Kim. With two down, Muncy secured a multi-homer day by finally keeping one of his smashes down the line fair, hitting his sixth of the year to push the lead to 14-1.

This is before today, btw.

Dodger fans hate to admit it, but since the glasses:

[image or embed]

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM

——

Now with an even bigger lead, Knack got even more help from Kim, who moved from short to center and started his day out there by playing a ball off the wall the throwing out Judge at second in the 6th. That helped Knack get through the inning, as another single followed, but he managed to get the final two outs of the frame.

Quietly, Knack has been huge for this team, just for getting innings: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 102 Pitches.

The bats looked like they would add on in the 6th after Edman and Kim notched singles, then with one-out Enrique Hernandez also singled to load things up. Almost amusingly though, Miguel Rojas grounded into yet another double play with the bases juiced to end the threat.

They did things the easy way in the 7th, as Andy Pages hit his 10th homer to push the lead to 15-1.

Taking over for Knack was Anthony Banda, just looking to put up a zero, and he did that in the 7th despite a two-out walk. Chris Stratton followed him to finally make his Dodger debut, and he gave up another Chris Paul three Judge homer to make it 15-2.

Amusingly, the Dodgers added on in the 8th, though they did it against a position player. Edman singled for his fourth hit and Kim doubled for his fourth hit before Dalton Rushing hit his first MLB homer to right, making it 18-2.

Kim is now a leader.

Hyeseong Kim now leads the Dodgers in wRC+.

[image or embed]

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM

Enrique then took to the mound and closed things out with a scoreless 9th in style.

——

Gotta give Charlie a shot at this point.

Call him up.

[image or embed]

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 1:57 PM

======

NL WestRecordGB
Dodgers36-22–
Padres32-23*2.5
Giants32-264.0

The Dodgers will go for a sweep of the Yankees tomorrow at 1:00 PM HT/4:00 PM PT/7:00 PM ET, which will yet again be on national television, this time on ESPN. It’ll be an ace in Yoshinobu Yamamoto going up against old friend Ryan Yarbrough.

Tags

About Chad Moriyama

Avatar photo
"A highly rational Internet troll." - Los Angeles Times
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2014-2024 | Dodgers Digest | All Rights Reserved