NEW YORK (AP) – Game 5 of the World Series has been quite a roller coaster ride for Aaron Judge.

The star slugger rallied from a postseason lull with his first Series home run on Wednesday night, hitting a two-run shot in the first inning that gave the New York Yankees the lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He did too a spectacular catch while hitting the outfield fence hard – and then dropped a simple fly for an embarrassing error that helped Los Angeles score five runs and score the tying run at 5 in the fifth.

New York’s bullpen squandered a one-run lead in the eighth, and the The Dodgers were able to win 7-6 They won their eighth championship and second in five years.

“You can’t give a team that good extra outs,” Judge said. “It starts with me being on the line and coming in. I misunderstood that. So if that doesn’t happen, then I think we have a different story tonight.”

Judge hit just .152 in October and just .133 in his first Fall Classic before sending a 403-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw from starter Jack Flaherty.

Three innings later, Judge made an outstanding dig, robbing Freddie Freeman of extra bases.

Freeman sent a drive deep to left-center that Judge ran down when his right hand and shoulder hit the fence near the 399-foot sign. From his knees, the 1.90 meter tall midfielder threw the ball to his teammate Alex Verdugo, who threw it back into the infield.

Then Judge smiled and winked at Verdugo as the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “MVP!” MVP!”

However, in the fifth round, Judge lost sight of Tommy Edman’s softliner at the last moment and fumbled it, marking his first mistake of the year, putting two runners on with no one out.

“I just couldn’t do it,” he said.

After two more defensive errors by New York, the Dodgers evened the score when Freeman hit a two-run single and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run double off Gerrit Cole with two outs.

The 6-foot-7 Judge also walked twice and doubled in Game 5, but his costly mistake at center field was big.

“We just couldn’t do it,” the Yankees captain said. “Just a few mistakes along the way that hurt us.”

Juan Soto was on a one-out walk when Judge scored. It was the 16th postseason home run and third of the year for Judge, who is expected to win his second AL MVP award in three years next month.

He had not gone deep in 29 plate appearances since a tie at Cleveland late in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 17. Judge also hit a home run in the second game of that series.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with another home run off Flaherty, giving the Yankees back-to-back home runs in a World Series for the fifth time and first since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium in 1977.

It was the 14th set of consecutive home runs in Yankees postseason history. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back shots in the eighth inning of Game 3 of the ALCS.

In Game 4, Judge showed early signs of a breakout as he went 1 for 3 and reached base three times with a walk, a hit by pitch and a single. In the eighth inning, he scored a run on a base hit that made it 11-4, his first RBI of the series.

“We didn’t finish it,” Judge said. “The boys had a great year this year. It was fun playing with this group. They’ve really come together, guys that we either signed to come here or traded for, they’re all a perfect fit for this club.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb