Teoscar Hernandez already was heating up and so far he is dominating a visit to Yankee Stadium for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hernandez has authored a pair of clutch performances so far and has the Dodgers in position for a three-game sweep over the Yankees on Sunday night.
In front of the two biggest crowds of the year in the Bronx and with many Los Angeles fans in the stands, Hernandez has helped the Dodgers earn a pair of dissimilar wins.
On Friday, his two-run double in the 11th inning gave Los Angeles a 2-1 win. A night later, he powered the Dodgers offense in an 11-3 rout.
Hernandez helped the Dodgers get their eighth win in 11 games since last month’s five-game losing streak by homering twice and matching a career best with six RBIs. He hit a solo homer in the second inning and then slugged a grand slam that turned a two-run lead into a blowout in the eighth.
Hernandez is 7-for-13 (.538) with three homers and nine RBIs over the past three games, and in his past 15 games, the outfielder is batting .328.
“That’s what makes you a really good player,” Hernandez said. “I want to be a really good player. I want to be in those situations every time.
Hernandez’s big series is occurring while Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani are a combined 5-for-23. Freeman has a pair of doubles while Ohtani hit an RBI single and Betts has scored twice.
The Yankees will try to avoid their second three-game losing streak of the season after getting 10 hits but also stranding 10 runners Saturday.
New York played its second straight game without Juan Soto due to left forearm inflammation. Soto is day-to-day and could be out again.
Without Soto, Aaron Judge hit a pair of solo homers to give him a major-league leading 23, but the Yankees struggled and clinched their third series loss of the season.
The Yankees will ask rookie right-hander Luis Gil (8-1, 1.82) to silence the Dodgers’ bats and keep their fans in the crowd quiet.
“They’re loud,” New York left fielder Alex Verdugo said of the Los Angeles followers at Yankee Stadium. “Obviously we know but at the end of the day we had chances to take over the stadium again, right? If we get that big hit. get those big runs across, we give our fans something to cheer about and the noise it a little bit different more on our side.”
Gil, making his 13th start of the season, has allowed a .129 average to opposing hitters. He gave up three hits or fewer for the 10th time on Tuesday when the Minnesota Twins mustered just one hit in six innings against him. Gil was credited with the win in the 5-1 game.
Gil’s outing against Minnesota also marked the ninth time he allowed one run or fewer in a game this season.
He has never pitched against the Dodgers.
Tyler Glasnow (6-4, 2.93), whose 104 strikeouts lead the majors, will start for the Dodgers. He has a 4-2 mark with a 2.74 ERA in nine career starts against the Yankees when he pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays starts for Los Angeles.
Glasnow is 0-3 with a 3.30 ERA in his previous five starts, though the Dodgers have been held to two runs or fewer four times. He was a tough-luck 1-0 loser on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a solo home run by Jack Suwinski in the third inning the game’s only run.
–Field Level Media
