LOS ANGELES — Prior to the opening pitch, Freddie Freeman’s dramatic walk-off grand slam from Game 1 of the World Series had already been replayed 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.
To add to the Yankees’ discomfort, their three-run advantage vanished as the Dodgers surged with a four-run inning against their top pitcher.
No, it was not the fifth inning of Game 5, and there were no Yankees errors that fueled it.
However, the Dodgers capitalized on a strong sixth inning to force Max Fried out of the game, ultimately defeating the Yankees 8-5 on Friday night at Dodger Stadium in their first matchup 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 name.
The World Series MVP delivered an RBI double to pull the Dodgers within 5-4 and send Fried to the showers.
Jonathan Loáisiga entered from the bullpen, and with the infield in, Andy Pages hit a ground ball past the dive of Anthony Volpe to tie the game at five.
The Yankees got the first out of the inning when Tommy Edman hit a chopper to first and Paul Goldschmidt got Freeman stuck in a pickle between third and home. But before he was tagged out, the Dodgers got the other two runners to second and third.
So when Max Muncy pinch-hit for Kiké Hernández, Aaron Boone opted to intentionally walk him with first base open and bring in lefty Tim Hill with the bases loaded.
But Hill, who has struggled with his command of late, walked ex-Met Michael Conforto on a full count, forcing in a run to put the Dodgers up 6-5.
A double play got the Yankees out of the inning, but the Dodgers came back for more in the seventh, all with two outs, against Yerry De Los Santos. Freeman was in the middle of the rally once again with a double before he raced around to score the second run on Pages’ two-run single.
The Yankees threatened in the eighth inning by putting runners on the corners with two outs and righty Ben Casparius on the mound.
Boone sent up lefty-swinging pinch-hitter J.C. Escarra, with the Dodgers countering by bringing in lefty reliever Tanner Scott. Boone then pinch-hit DJ LeMahieu for Escarra, but he flew out to end the threat.
When Judge and Ohtani exchanged blows in the first inning, it marked the first time in MLB history that both reigning MVPs homered in the first inning of the same game, according to Stats Perform.
In the second inning, Austin Wells and Trent Grisham each hit their first home run since May 12 — Wells a solo shot and Grisham a two-run blast to put the Yankees up 4-1.
After the Dodgers got one run back in the bottom of the inning, Paul Goldschmidt led off the third by taking Gonsolin deep to make it a 5-2 game.
Judge — whose dropped fly ball in center field gave way to the horrific fifth inning in Game 5 — gave Fried a hand in the third inning by playing some sterling defense.
Teoscar Hernández hit a fly ball into the gap that had extra bases written all over it, but Judge laid out to make a superb catch.
