No stranger to Dodger Stadium, Jake Bauers sparks Yankees with 2 home runs

LOS ANGELES — Jake Bauers had never played in a major league game at Dodger Stadium until Friday, but the Yankees outfielder is no stranger to Chavez Ravine.

Bauers, a Newport Beach native who starred for Marina High School in Huntington Beach, played for a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship at the ballpark as a high school senior in 2013. But Bauers, a childhood Angels fan, did not come away with a section title, and he only flew out and walked a few times while current Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty blanked Marina.

“I remember getting shut out and losing, 1-0,” Bauers told the Daily News, “and crying down the first baseline when the game was over.”

Saturday’s game at Dodger Stadium went much better for Bauers.

With friends and family in attendance — including his parents, wife and in-laws — Bauers recorded the first multi-homer game of his career with a pair of two-run bombs off Los Angeles starter Michael Grove. The first blast came in the second inning and traveled 414 feet at 107.6 miles per hour. The second landed 409 feet away and left Bauers’ bat at 109.2 mph.

He admired both shots to right field, which propelled the Yankees to a 6-3, series-tying victory.

“As ironic as it sounds, just not trying to hit for power,” Bauers said when asked what clicked after the game. “Just trying to put the barrel on the ball and let good things happen from there.”

Bauers began the season at Triple-A, where the 27-year-old crushed nine home runs over 21 games. The outfielder/first baseman came into this season with 328 games of major league experience with Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Seattle, but he didn’t suit up for the Yankees until April 29 of this year after spending all of 2022 in the minor leagues with New York and Cincinnati.

“He obviously went down to Triple-A and tore it up to earn the opportunity,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s gotten some big hits for us, obviously two huge homers. He’s got big-time pop.

“Everyone’s path is a little different. He’s done a really nice job for us.”

Bauers is only hitting .237 in 26 games, but he has an .889 OPS and has been productive over his last five appearances, going 6-for-13 (.462) with two doubles, three dingers and seven RBI.

Bauers attributes all of his recent success to swing changes recommended by the Yankees’ hitting coaches at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He said they tweaked “a lot of stuff” after he hit .135 with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate last season, but the key has been developing a flatter bat path through the zone.

The fix helped Bauers escape thoughts of an early retirement, even though he didn’t start to see results until the end of spring training this year.

“Ever since I got traded here last year, it’s just kind of been a steady uptrend in terms of how I feel at the plate,” he said. “I really owe it all to the Yankees, the Yankees’ hitting philosophy and the coaches here.

“I had nothing to lose. I was hitting a buck-thirty in Triple-A. Feeling like I might have been at the end of my career. I didn’t know if I would ever be back in the big leagues. So when I got traded over and they said, ‘Hey, this is what we do here,’ I said, ‘Whatever you guys want me to do, is what I’m gonna do.’ All credit goes to them.”

The Yankees would love to see Bauers keep up this level of output, as they could use a consistent lefty-hitting left fielder.

There’s certainly an opportunity there for Bauers. But then again, he believes that every day is an opportunity.

“I can’t stress that enough,” he said. “I’m just so thankful to be here. I’m so thankful for every day I’m in that lineup. I’m thankful for every day I get to step on that field. As long as they keep letting me in, I’m gonna give them everything I got.”

Bauers was not the Yankees’ only California native who showed off at Dodger Stadium Saturday, as Linden’s Aaron Judge added a solo homer in the sixth inning. That gave the Yankees some wiggle room after Gerrit Cole’s early exit quickly led to two Dodgers runs in the seventh.

Cole, who also hails from Newport Beach, pitched well for six innings, allowing four hits and one run while walking two and striking out five. But he left after a season-low 80 pitches due to cramping in his legs throughout the game.

“It was tough,” Cole said. “I mean, I did a hydration test and I’m hydrated, so it was I guess one of those days. Tough work, tough lineup, making me execute a lot of pitches, and so we managed it well. But getting into the later innings, didn’t want to risk anything.”

With Cole out of the game, the Dodgers jumped on Wandy Peralta, who didn’t record an out and surrendered an RBI triple to Miguel Vargas. Michael King then gave up an RBI single to Miguel Rojas before stopping the bleeding. Both runs went to Peralta.

The Dodgers’ first run came in the second inning when David Peralta hit a blooper off Cole.

Los Angeles threatened again in the eighth with King still on the mound, but a miraculous running catch from Judge took a hit away from J.D. Martinez and helped the Yankees avoid more damage.

Judge barged into the Bombers’ bullpen gate upon colliding with it, and he stumbled through the doorway as the barrier unexpectedly swung open. But Judge hung onto the ball, giving him his second highlight-reel snare of this road trip after robbing a home run in Seattle.

“Just another awesome catch added to the list in a big-time spot,” Boone said. “Your heart skips a beat when the fence goes flying open. Just another great play.”

Judge, meanwhile, said he was fine after the forceful crash.

“I’m feeling good,” the slugger said. “I think the fence got most it. Thankfully, it was that part of the wall where it had some give. I think that saved me quite a bit. If it was a solid wall, it might be a different story.”

The Yankees weren’t done offensively, as the recently demoted and sleep deprived Oswaldo Cabrera provided one more insurance run with a homer in the ninth.

“I know that I wasn’t doing great things,” Cabrera, who flew out of Newark at 8:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, said of his demotion. “When Boonie told me, I was like, ‘Okay, I got it.’ In my mind, I knew I had to do better down there to get back. When they called me yesterday, I was so happy.”

With the series now tied at one, the Yankees will look to leave Los Angeles with a win on Sunday. Domingo German will face Bobby Miller in the finale before the Yanks return home.