Yankees rue missed chance after 'perfect throw' gets Giancarlo Stanton in Game 3 loss

Through three frames off Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, the Yankees had managed two base runners on walks but had yet to crack the Los Angeles right-hander for a hit in Game 3 of the World Series in The Bronx.

That changed when Giancarlo Stanton lined a one-out double to the left-field corner to give the home side, already down 3-0, their first chance with a runner in scoring position.

And when the Yankees got the hit with a runner in scoring position they sorely needed – just their third in 16 chances in the series to that point – they failed to score when Stanton was gunned down at the plate in the eventual 4-2 loss on Monday, putting the Yanks on the brink.

“I thought G had a pretty good jump and move around third base,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “So, tough when you’re behind a few there, but a perfect throw is able to get him there. I’ll go back and look at it some more, though.”

Stanton, who does not run well by any measurement, said he had to be “rolling there” as he is expecting to be sent home by third base coach Luis Rojas.

"In that situation, two outs, you got to roll the dice on it,” he said, adding that “in that spot, you gotta roll with it and get something going, get it kick-started” with the Yanks struggling for offense through three games of the series.

With two down in the inning, Anthony Volpe, who was hitless in nine at-bats with five strikeouts to that point, cracked a 2-2 Buehler sweeper into left field.

Stanton was approaching third base at about the same time the ball bounced up toward a charging Teoscar Hernandez in left. And despite Stanton's 24.5 feet per second sprint speed (third percentile in MLB), Rojas waved the DH home.

Teoscar Hernández throws out Giancarlo Stanton at the plate on an Anthony Volpe hit

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Hernandez uncorked his throw just after Stanton rounded third base and unleashed a 94 mph throw (his fastest of the season). Los Angeles catcher Will Smith smartly read the flight of the ball and moved in front of home plate to catch the bouncing throw and tag in one motion getting a sliding Stanton two feet in front of home to end the inning.

“We’re gonna challenge Teoscar there a little bit, especially when he’s moving to the right,” Boone said. “Credit to him he made a great throw.”

On the year, Hernandez ranked in the 21st percentile in arm value, but in the 70th percentile in arm strength with an average of 87.5 mph, per Statcast. So perhaps that influenced the decision.

"They don't know about you in New York,” Buehler said he told Hernandez in the dugout after making the throw. “You think they would remember what he did when we played here in the regular season. Pretty cool for him to show off the other side of the ball and a kinda put a perfect throw.”

The crisp Dodger defense has been a theme of the series, and it came through one batter before Hernandez’s throw as Jazz Chisholm Jr. was robbed of a hit when Mookie Betts went low to snare a sinking liner in right field for the inning’s second out.

“The Teo throw was huge, it obviously killed the momentum,” Los Angeles skipper Dave Roberts said. “And then Mookie’s play… to make a play on a sinker liner and then that play at home plate was just huge for all of us.

The starter agreed, calling it “a big momentum play” to help put them a win away from a World Series title.

“First couple innings, I was kinda going pretty smooth,” Buehler said. “And for them to get a little momentum and us shut it down that way, was pretty cool.”