NEW YORK- Anthony Volpe ran back to shortstop for the top of the fourth inning and a sellout crowd of just under 50,000. yankees The fans stood up and chanted his name.

BLOW!

BLOW!

BLOW!

Volpe raised his glove and threw it skyward, facing the bleacher seats in center-right.

That caused another thunderous roar.

The New Jersey boy, a Yankees fan since childhood, was having his October moment.

Volpe hit a grand slam in the previous half-inning, a swing that took the Yankees from an early 2-1 deficit (in what could have been their final game of the season) to a 5-2 lead.

Coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series won’t be easy. History says it is impossible. But the Yankees came into Tuesday’s Game 4 with a plan to overcome this seemingly insurmountable deficit against a powerful opponent. one game at a time.

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RESTORING THE GLORY

Volpe, who is famous attended the 2009 Yankees World Series parade 15 years ago, he made sure this team still had a chance, however small, to have their own journey through the Canyon of Heroes.

The young shortstop left his mark in the Yankees’ 11-4 victory over the Dodgers, a victory that extends the 2024 World Series for at least one more game. A handful of high-leverage bullpen arms and an avalanche of safe runs, via slug, allowed the Yankees to reach the final out.

Well, it didn’t always seem like an explosion in the making for the Yankees. On the brink of elimination, they followed the same script as Game 3 in the first inning Tuesday night. It took the life out of the building.

Freddie Freeman hit his fourth home run in as many World Series games, another two-run shot into the short right field to give the Dodgers an immediate cushion in the top of the first.

Then, like clockwork, the Yankees stranded runners in scoring position at the bottom of the frame. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge walked against Dodgers starter Ben Casparius, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Giancarlo Stanton rebounded to end the threat.

The Yankees got on the board in the second, but with something of an asterisk. This is where Volpe turned his grand slam into a redemption arc.

Volpe walked, stole second and then watched as Austin Wells launched a deep fly over his head to center field. Even as the ball crashed into the wall in front of the Yankees bullpen, Volpe hesitated, unsure whether Kiké Hernández would make a highlight-reel catch.

Running those changes to second prevented Volpe from scoring, and limited Wells to a double when he could have stretched him to third. Ninth batter Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to first that knocked out Volpe, but to play the hypothetical game, he could have brought Wells home as the tying run.

One inning later, Volpe made up for it in a big way.

He stepped forward with the bases loaded and two men out, an excellent opportunity to score runs. On the first pitch he saw from reliever Daniel Hudson, Volpe hit it over the left-field wall.

It was Volpe’s first home run in the postseason. He is the first player to give the Yankees a lead while trailing in a World Series game with a grand slam, according to Stathead’s Katie Sharp.

However, Los Angeles was not going to go down without a fight.

Two innings later, catcher Will Smith hit a solo home run off Gil on an 0-2 fastball. The right-hander was retired by manager Aaron Boone one batter later after a walk to Tommy Edman.

With left-hander Tim Hill in relief, the Dodgers got within one on a fielder’s choice, a double play ball that Freeman beat at first. That race was led by Gil, who gave up four clean runs in those four-plus frames.

Clinging to a one-run lead, with Boone going to his bullpen early, the Yankees needed insurance. Wells provided the first wave with a solo shot toward second cover on the right, a moonshot that was accompanied by an emphatic swing of the bat.

The Yankees then lost five spots to Los Angeles in eighth. Volpe raced home from third on Verdugo’s groundout to first, Gleyber Torres hit a three-run opposite-field homer and Judge captured some momentum with an RBI single, covering Soto.

Meanwhile, the Yankees bullpen holds on and keeps this team alive for another day.

Clay Holmes, who will enter free agency at the end of this season and has been criticized all summer, made four big outs. The former closer retired all four batters he faced.

Mark Leiter Jr., the trade deadline acquisition that pitcher didn’t finish well in the regular season, struck out Shohei Ohtani in the seventh. He continues to be effective in October, slowly returning to the bullpen circle of trust.

Luke Weaver closed the meat of the Los Angeles lineup. He struck out Mookie Betts to end the eighth, knocked out the Dodgers’ 3-4-5 hitters (Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy) in order in the eighth and finished off the save with seven outs in the ninth.

Left-hander Tim Mayza finished the job. The Yankees didn’t need to use Weaver for a third lead in the ninth inning because of the late offensive surge, preserving some bullets as they prepare for another must-win game on Wednesday night.