LOS ANGELES — The only home runs Gerrit Cole watched fly out of Dodger Stadium on Saturday came from his teammates.
In fitting fashion, the Yankees were powered by a trio of California natives to even their series up against the Dodgers.
Jake Bauers crushed two home runs, Aaron Judge added a solo homer — plus another spectacular catch that busted open the right-field fence — and Cole returned to dominant form, sending the Yankees to a 6-3 win over the Dodgers.
“I know that being from this area, it carries just a little extra weight when you come back into your hometown,” Cole said of Bauers, his fellow Newport Beach native. “To stroke a few balls into the bleachers, it’s gotta feel good. Obviously we needed it today.”
The Yankees also needed Judge’s glove. He robbed J.D. Martinez of extra bases in the eighth inning with a man on first and reliever Michael King trying to protect a 5-3 lead.
Martinez sent a drive to right field and Judge sprinted back to track the ball down before he collided with the fencing that separated the field from the Yankees’ bullpen. The fence swung open behind Judge, but he secured the out to add yet another example to his MVP case.
“I’ll tell you what: There’s some great players in this series, no doubt,” Cole said. “Couple Hall of Famers on the other side as well. But [Judge] is just on another level. … Gosh, what a blessing to have him on my team.”
Despite a dramatic final few innings, the Yankees (35-25), who also got a solo home run in the ninth inning from Oswaldo Cabrera, set up a rubber-match showdown with the Dodgers (35-24) on Sunday.
Cole turned in one of his best outings since April, tossing six strong innings of one-run ball, though he left the game after a season-low 80 pitches because he was experiencing cramping in his leg throughout the start. The right-hander said he drank plenty of water, ate bananas and took a hydration test that said he was hydrated.
“I guess just one of those days — tough work, tough lineup, making me execute a lot of pitches,” said Cole, who struck out five. “We managed it well, but getting into the later innings, didn’t want to risk anything.”
After he didn’t allow a home run across his first seven starts of the season, Cole had been tagged for eight in his last five starts heading into Saturday.
The Dodgers never left the yard against Cole. Instead, Bauers belted a pair of two-run homers to give him a lead to work with.
The first came in the second inning off Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove, who left a slider over the plate that Bauers crushed 414 feet to right field for a 2-0 lead.
In his next at-bat, in the fourth inning, Bauers smoked a 96 mph fastball at the top of the zone 409 feet to right field to put the Yankees ahead 4-1.
“Right now, I’m just kind of in the state of mind where I’m just grateful to walk into the building,” said Bauers, who was mashing at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before he was called up at the end of April. “I think that’s translating to enjoying myself more on the field, which is allowing me to play free.”
Wandy Peralta relieved Cole to start the seventh inning with a trio of lefties due up, but the Dodgers immediately went to their bench to take advantage by sending up three consecutive right-handed pinch-hitters.
Chris Taylor’s single and Miguel Vargas’ triple cut the Yankees lead to 5-2 before Trayce Thompson walked.
King then entered and gave up an RBI single to Miguel Rojas before he retired Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith in succession to escape the inning with the Yankees still up 5-3.
Then came Judge’s latest heroics in the eighth.
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Bauers said. “Guy just does it on both ends of the field. Probably saved the game right there. At least saved a lot of the momentum and just swung it back our way.”
