Yankees experience deja vu as Dodgers rally to grab first game of World Series rematch

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.LOS ANGELES — Before first pitch, Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series already had been shown on the video board twice.

The public address announcer referred to the Dodgers as the World Series champions whenever possible.And throughout the night, a large white flag flew in center field to commemorate their title from last October. And in case that wasn’t all harrowing enough for the Yankees, they saw a three-run lead get away when the Dodgers rallied for a four-run inning against their ace. No, it was not the fifth inning of Game 5, and there were no Yankees errors that fueled it. But the Dodgers used a big sixth inning to knock Max Fried out of the game and beat the Yankees 8-5 on Friday night at Dodger Stadium in their first meeting since the World Series. Fried entered the night having given up 10 earned runs and three home runs all season across 70 innings.

Then, in a span of five-plus innings Friday, the Dodgers (35-22) tagged him for six earned runs and two home runs — both from Shohei Ohtani. The Yankees (35-21), who saw their five-game winning streak snapped, clubbed four home runs of their own off right-hander Tony Gonsolin in the first three innings alone.That included one from Aaron Judge, who traded solo shots with Ohtani in the first inning, before the Yankees took a 5-2 lead into the sixth. But Ohtani led off the frame with his second home run of the night (and 22nd of the year), a moonshot hit so high to right field that the music started to play before it landed because it took so long.

Immediately after throwing the pitch, all Fried could do was turn around and put his hands on his knees as the ball sailed out. Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith followed with back-to-back singles before Freeman walked to the plate with the sellout crowd of 53,276 chanting his nam...