Ohtani injury blow as Dodgers go 2-0 up in World Series

A partially dislocated shoulder to superstar Shohei Ohtani has tempered the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in Game 2 to take a 2-0 World Series lead.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6 1/3 innings, Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night and the Dodgers hit three early longballs off Carlos Rodón in Saturday night's home win.

Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández also went deep for the Dodgers, who watched slugger Ohtani walk off the field with a left shoulder injury at the end of the seventh inning.

After the Yankees closed to 4-2 on Giancarlo Stanton's RBI single in the ninth against Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia relieved with the bases loaded and retired pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout for the save.

Yamamoto gave up Juan Soto's third-inning homer, then retired his last 11 batters.

Soto also singled off the wall in the ninth and scored on Stanton's one-out hit off the third-base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia completed a four-hitter.

Ohtani got hurt on a feet-first slide when he was caught stealing second base to end the seventh.

"He had a little left shoulder subluxation. We're going to get some tests at some point tonight or tomorrow, and then we'll know more in the next couple of days," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

"The strength was great. The range of motion good, so we're encouraged. So once we have the scans, we'll know more.."

Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Forty-five of 56 teams holding 2-0 World Series leads have gone on to win the title.

"No one said it's going to be easy," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "It's a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won't flinch."

New York slugger Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and is hitting .150 with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats.

Soto's tying homer on an inside fastball was the only run Yamamoto permitted in two starts and 13 1/3 innings against the Yankees this year.

Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December for a $US325 million, 12-year contract, a record for pitchers, teaming with Ohtani to create record interest in Major League Baseball back in Japan.

He was sidelined from June 15 to September 10 because of a strained rotator cuff and this was his finest start since the injury.

A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history to transform a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 win, Edman put the Dodgers ahead with a solo shot in the second.

After Soto tied the score, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom half and Hernández, in a 3-for-27 slide, homered into the right-center pavilion.

Freeman was greeted with loud cheers before each plate appearance. He worked the count full and homered to right-centre again.

Playing on a sprained right ankle, Freeman has homered in four straight Series games dating to Atlanta's last two games against Houston in 2021.

All three Dodgers homers came on fastballs from Rodón, whose 31 longballs allowed during the regular season tied for second-most in the major leagues.

Rodón gave up four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

with AAP