The Dodgers' dominant performance against Jack Flaherty was undone by a terrible pitch against Giancarlo Stanton

Jack Flaherty has covered the gamut in terms of performance this postseason. They had a good but not great 5 1/3 inning effort against the Padres when he gave up four runs; They posted a dominant, scoreless, seven-inning performance against the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS; They had a disastrous three innings and eight runs in Game 5 against the Mets.

He may have been an unpopular choice to start Game 1 of the World Series, but the Dodgers will want Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get the extra day of rest needed if this thing goes five games.

But more importantly, Flaherty looked Good by 5 1/3 against the Yankees. The Dodgers were concerned about his velocity, but he threw over 96 MPH on his first fastball and stayed around 94 for a while, which was good news for the Dodgers. He had allowed just four hits and one free base and collected six Ks, including three against Aaron Judge.

But towards the end of the sixth round things started to wobble. Juan Soto hit a single, Judge struck out for the third time, and then Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees' biggest threat this postseason, stepped up to the plate.

Flaherty got Stanton to 0-2 before throwing a ball almost clear over Will Smith, a fastball traveling just 89 mph. Then there was an ankle turn just below the zone that Stanton immediately turned on. The ball left the bat at a speed of 116.6 miles per hour and it rose and rose so high that it seemed like it would never stop. Soto scored, Stanton scored. 2-1 Yankees.

Giancarlo Stanton's devastating home run ends Jack Flaherty's first World Series appearance and silences Dodgers fans

Dave Roberts was out of the dugout to pull Flaherty as soon as Stanton crossed home plate, and instead went to Anthony Banda out of the bullpen to face left-handers Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Rizzo.

Banda also got into trouble, but kept the score at 2-1 after a Chisholm single and a stolen base, an intentional walk to Anthony Volpe and an Austin Wells single. Tommy Edman saved a run for Banda when he made a fantastic short-pitch play to keep Chisholm at third on Wells' base hit, and then Banda ended the inning with a strikeout off Alex Verdugo. That crisis was averted, but unfortunately the Dodgers couldn't avoid the first crisis, which could very well ruin everything if the lineup can't wake up.