Yankees hit four homers, but Max Fried can't slow down  Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Regardless of what happened Friday night — or, really, the entire weekend — the Yankees were not going to exact even a modicum of “revenge” on the Dodgers for last October’s World Series.

That can take place only with a title on the line. And despite the hype machine hitting overdrive for this World Series rematch at Dodger Stadium, that is an impossibility at this time of year.

Still, playing well beats the alternative, and the Yankees, among the hottest teams in baseball entering this series, did not continue that Friday night.

There was little wrong with the offense, which produced four homers in the first two innings-plus, including a 446-foot shot by Aaron Judge.

But for the first time this season, Max Fried didn’t have it, and what had mostly been an elite bullpen didn’t either in an 8-5 loss to the Dodgers in front of a rocking sellout crowd of 53,276.

The Yankees (35-21), whose winning streak was snapped at five games, took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth but saw the Dodgers (35-22) score four times in the inning and twice in the seventh to make it 8-5.

The four-run sixth was reminiscent to a degree — though not completely analogous because of the lack of self-sabotage — of the Yankees’ disastrous five-run fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series, when they flushed a 5-0 lead, largely because of errors by Judge and Anthony Volpe (and Gerrit Cole’s failure to cover first base).

Friday night featured two of the sport’s best offenses, led by the generally accepted two best hitters in the game, both of whom showed up.

Reigning AL MVP Judge went 2-for-5 with his 19th homer and a double. Reigning NL MVP Shohei Ohtani outdid Judge on this night, going 2-for-5 with his 21st and 22nd homers. The two went punch-counterpunch in the opening inning as Judge homered in the top half and Ohtani took Fried deep on his first pitch of the game.

Fried, 7-0 with a 1.29 ERA coming in, was charged with a season-worst six runs and allowed eight hits in five innings-plus. He left with the Yankees holding a 5-4 lead and runners on second and third. Andy Pages’ single off Jonathan Loaisiga allowed one of Fried’s runners to score and Michael Conforto (who was 2-for-34 with runners in scoring position this season) drew a bases-loaded walk against Tim Hill to force home the go-ahead run, also charged to Fried.

“I didn’t think he had his good breaking ball going tonight,’’ Aaron Boone said. “And in that inning [the sixth], he just left some pitches in the heart of the plate against some, obviously, really good hitters there.”

Dodgers righthander Tony Gonsolin, 2-1 with a 4.68 ERA entering the night, allowed five runs and six hits, including four homers. Besides Judge, Austin Wells, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt homered for the Yankees. Grisham’s 13th in his 49 games was a two-run shot.

With one out in the first, Judge obliterated a 1-and-1, 90-mph fastball to dead center, making it 53 of 56 games this season in which he has reached base.

It took Ohtani, who homered leading off back-to-back games earlier this week in Cleveland, all of one pitch to do it again. Jumping on a 94-mph sinker, Ohtani launched it 417 feet to center for his sixth leadoff homer of the season and 18th of his career.

A smiling Judge said,  "I feel like he was copying me. He's impressive. He's one of the best players in the game for a reason. What he can do, in the box, on the basepaths, once he gets back on the mound, it's special. But it's really just about two good ballclubs going after it. We weren't able to come away with a win there but we'll be ready to go tomorrow."

Wells’ homer made it 2-1 in the second and Grisham’s two-run homer later in the inning gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead. After the Dodgers got within 4-2 in the bottom half on Tommy Edman’s double, the third balk of Fried’s career and an RBI groundout by Enrique Hernandez, Goldschmidt homered leading off the third to make it 5-2.

Judge made a diving backhand catch of Teoscar Hernandez's drive into the gap in right-center for the second out of the third, and Fried took a three-run lead into the sixth but couldn’t record an out. Ohtani led off with a home run just over the rightfield wall to make it 5-3. Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith singled and Freddie Freeman lined an RBI double to left.

Loaisiga replaced Fried and with the infield in, Pages hit a ground smash past a diving Volpe for an RBI single that tied it at 5-5.

“I felt like the guys did a great job tonight putting up early runs and for the most part I just didn’t do my job,’’ Fried said. “I’m a competitor. I want to go out there and win, so the fact that we had a lead and I gave it up a couple of times, it’s not going to sit well with me.”

With two outs in the seventh, Smith singled, Freeman doubled to left and Pages’ two-run single off Yerry De los Santos made it 8-5.

When  asked if there was anything "extra" playing the Dodgers, Judge said: "Not really. People were asking about it, if it's 'personal,' this and that. Every game we play is personal. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We just got done with a series against the Angels, that series was personal. Just like these games, every game matters. We weren't able to come up with a win here, but it's time to bounce back and get them tomorrow."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.