LOS ANGELES — Will Warren has been trying to follow in the footsteps of his veteran rotation mates like Max Fried.
The young right-hander took that a bit too literally Saturday, though he had plenty of company in what became an absolute stinker of a game for the Yankees.
After Fried got rocked Friday night, Warren did not survive the second inning as the relentless Dodgers lineup proved to be too much to handle and the Yankees got blown out in an 18-2 loss in front of 51,746 at Dodger Stadium.
Even without the injured Mookie Betts, the Dodgers (36-22) led 10-0 by the second inning on a day when they pounded out 21 hits — including five home runs — to claim the series with a chance for the sweep Sunday. It marks the first series loss the Yankees (35-22) have suffered in their last eight series.
“It hurts. It sucks. I let the team down,” said Warren, who gave up seven runs across 1 ¹/₃ innings.
“Just let [the emotions] sit there and learn to hate that feeling. Then when you take the mound in five days, you don’t want to feel that again and it’s on to the next one.”
Fifteen of the runs came before the eighth inning, when utilityman Pablo Reyes tried to spare the bullpen and pitch mop-up duty.
The only saving grace was that unlike Friday night’s 8-5 loss, there was no lead the Yankees could blow in the middle game of this World Series rematch.
Max Muncy had seven RBIs, including a pair of three-run homers that served as knockout blows to a pair of pitchers — ending Warren’s day in the second inning and Mark Leiter Jr.’s in the fifth.
Aaron Judge crushed a pair of solo home runs — giving him 21 on the season — but that was all the offense the Yankees could muster against right-hander Landon Knack (who entered the day with a 5.22 ERA) and the Dodgers bullpen.
“It’s been tough,” Cody Bellinger said. “Obviously, a very good team over there. We’ve been playing good baseball. Definitely a tough few games here, but we haven’t lost confidence in the group of guys here. Only thing we can do is get after it [Sunday] and do everything we can to win.”
Warren, who had appeared to turn the corner of late while putting together a string of solid starts, took a step back Saturday. He gave up six hits and four walks while recording just four outs.
The Yankees were forced to use six of their eight bullpen arms in relief of Warren, making it likely they will need a fresh arm or two for Sunday’s series finale, even with an off day looming Monday.
“Obviously a challenge, but that’s what the 162 brings you sometimes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It doesn’t always line up perfectly and you’ve got to navigate some tough moments and some tough games sometimes.”
The 25-year-old Warren barely made it out of the first inning in which the Dodgers ambushed him and forced him to throw 39 pitches.
He struck out Shohei Ohtani to leave the bases loaded, already trailing 4-0, with a reliever ready in the bullpen.
The second inning did not begin much better.
Warren was in a 2-2 count on Teoscar Hernández when he was called for a pitch-clock violation, which ran the count full.
Then he threw ball four, the first of back-to-back walks he issued to open the frame.
One out later, Muncy drilled his first three-run home run of the game to make it 7-0 and mercifully end Warren’s day after 57 pitches.
“When stuff starts rolling, you try to kill the momentum on their side,” Warren said. “I think I left too many balls over the middle of the plate and the momentum didn’t stop.”
Brent Headrick gave up three more runs before the second inning was over as the Dodgers went up 10-0.
Ian Hamilton stopped the bleeding for two scoreless innings before the Dodgers piled on for four more runs off Leiter in the fifth.
“They have one of the best offenses and they did a good job,” Paul Goldschmidt said. “Will was giving everything he had out there. All of our guys did. It just didn’t go our way today.”
