Dodgers' dominant Jack Flaherty outing wrecked by one awful pitch to Giancarlo Stanton

Jack Flaherty has run the gamut in terms of performance this postseason. You have an okay but not great 5 1/3 inning effort against the Padres when he gave up four runs; you have a dominant, seven-inning, scoreless appearance against the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS; you have a disastrous three innings and eight runs against the Mets in Game 5.

He was maybe an unpopular pick to start Game 1 of the World Series, but the Dodgers will want Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get his requisite extra day of rest with the off-day if this thing goes to five games.

But, more importantly, Flaherty looked good through 5 1/3 against the Yankees. The Dodgers had been concerned abut his velocity, but he threw upwards of 96 MPH on his first fastball and sat around 94 for a while, which was good news for the Dodgers. He'd only allowed four hits and one free base, and he'd collected six Ks, including three on Aaron Judge.

But things started to shake in the top of the sixth. Juan Soto singled, Judge struck out for the third time, and then Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees' biggest threat this postseason, stepped up to the plate.

Flaherty got Stanton to an 0-2 count before he threw a ball almost clear over Will Smith, a fastball at just 89 MPH. Then came a knuckle curve just below the zone, which Stanton turned on immediately. That ball left the bat at 116.6 MPH, and it climbed and climbed so high that it looked like it might never stop. Soto scored, Stanton scored. 2-1 Yankees.

Devastating Giancarlo Stanton home run ends Jack Flaherty's first World Series appearance and silences Dodgers fans

Dave Roberts was out of the dugout to pull Flaherty pretty much as soon as Stanton had crossed home plate, going instead to Anthony Banda out of the bullpen to face lefties Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Rizzo.

Banda also got into trouble but kept the score at 2-1 after a Chisholm single and stolen base, an intentional walk to Anthony Volpe, and an Austin Wells single. Tommy Edman saved a run for Banda when he made a fantastic play at short to keep Chisholm at third on Wells' base hit, and then Banda put the inning away with a strikeout on Alex Verdugo. That crisis was averted, but unfortunately the Dodgers' couldn't avoid the first one, which very well could spoil everything if the lineup can't wake up.