Dodgers' bullpen Game 4 backfires as Dave Roberts opens door for Yankees

With their backs up against the wall, down by three games to the Dodgers, the Yankees finally started to put up a fight in Game 4. The Dodgers' bullpen games have gone their way more often than not so far this postseason, but in the bottom of the third with Daniel Hudson on the mound, it just wasn't clicking in the same way.

Hudson opened things up with a strikeout on Juan Soto, but then he hit Aaron Judge with a fastball to put a man on. Jazz Chisholm singled to send Judge to third, and then Giancarlo Stanton walked, as Hudson just couldn't find the zone. After an Anthony Rizzo pop out, Anthony Volpe — who had just one hit in the series so far — stepped up.

Volpe had just one extra-base hit and two RBI in October. With two outs, he should've been an easy third out for Hudson. Instead, he grabbed a slider at the bottom of the zone and demolished it to clear the bases and put the Yankees up by three.

The Dodgers inched within one with a solo homer from Will Smith and some valiant base running by Freddie Freeman (to follow his two-run homer, because of course) to score Tommy Edman after a challenged call at first, but it wasn't enough to overcome the desperation the Yankees were feeling while down by three games.

Austin Wells hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, and the Dodgers' bats went completely cold in the aftermath.

Dodgers bullpen gets rocked in miserable Game 4 blowout against Yankees

Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr., and Luke Weaver had the Dodgers flailing through three innings. The Dodgers' remarkable lineup had only struck out once in the first five innings, but Holmes, Leiter, and Weaver punched them out seven times. All of these guys were wanting to play the hero and were coming out of their shoes accordingly, but could barely connect.

After the homer from Wells, bulk reliever Landon Knack got through the rest of his outing unscathed. Brent Honeywell, who endeared himself to Dodgers fans for his comments after Game 3 of the NLDS, came in for the bottom of the eighth and just kept getting into trouble again and again. Anthony Volpe hit a one-out double, Austin Wells walked, and then they both stole second and third on a long at-bat from Alex Verdugo.

Verdugo eventually put one in play on the 11th pitch he saw, and Volpe scored while beating out a throw from Gavin Lux to Smith. Gleyber Torres promptly homered to clear the bases, Juan Soto doubled, and Aaron Judge finally got a hit and his first RBI of the World Series to score Soto. 11-4, and a blowout for the Yankees.

The Dodgers went down in order in the top of the ninth to finally put an end to a night they're really going to want to forget. They'll have to do it fast, because Game 5 is on deck for Wednesday, and the Dodgers will have to keep the Yankees from inching any closer and all of the whispers about the 2004 Red Sox from getting any louder.