NEW YORK — The Dodgers have tried to walk a tightrope this postseason with their bullpen, and although they’re one game away from winning the World Series with that strategy, things haven’t gone as planned in their final playoff game. Game 4.

“It’s a challenge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s victory. 11-4 loss to the Yankees.

Rookie Ben Casparius was the man chosen to open Tuesday’s game against the Yankees, and although he only allowed one run in his two innings, his three walks created plenty of pitches very stressful, which proved to be the theme of the first innings for the Dodgers’ arms.

Roberts then turned to veteran right-hander Daniel Hudson to bridge Casparius and Landon Knack. The hope was that Hudson would pass through the heart of the Yankees’ lineup without any major damage. However, Hudson didn’t have his best, and the even bigger problem was that his lack of command quickly put hitters in a favorable count, putting him in trouble.

Hudson started the third inning by falling behind in the count against Juan Soto, and after a takedown by Soto for the first takedown of the inning, things started to escalate. The Dodgers right-hander allowed the next three batters to reach base, drilling Aaron Judge, giving up a single to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and walking Giancarlo Staton.

“Obviously it was a bit of a self-made mess in the third,” Hudson said afterward. “I threw some good pitches to Juan to start the inning and then it kind of got away from me.”

Hudson almost managed to get out of trouble. He induced a popout from Anthony Rizzo for a critical second out, bringing shortstop Anthony Volpe to the plate.

On the first pitch he saw, the 23-year-old Volpe electrified a Yankee Stadium crowd looking for something to cheer about, smashing a slider into the left field seats for a grand slam and giving the Bronx Bombers a 5-2 lead. would prove sufficient to force Match 5 Wednesday.

“I just threw a really bad slider,” Hudson said after the game. “It’s just kind of one that comes out of your hand and (you) just feel a momentary ‘Oh, no’ in your stomach.”

Roberts said: “He had Stanton 1-2 and just couldn’t put him away. He then gets a pop-up, and he’s about to get out of it and leaves an arm-side slider to Volpe. That was the difference in this round.

The Los Angeles offense had quickly taken the lead. another home run from Freddie Freeman and, even after the grand slam, he had chances to come back in this one, starting with a Will Smith solo homer that made it 5-3 in the fifth. But the Dodgers weren’t able to put together a big inning against the Yankees bullpen, who didn’t give up a run in five innings. Aside from the two big flies, the Dodgers offense only collected four other hits on the night.

Shohei Ohtani, still leading with his injured shoulder, seemed somewhat hampered in his at-bats, but managed a 102 mph flyout and a 103.8 mph single.

“We’ve asked him several times, and we’re not bothered by it,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s shoulder. “He doesn’t feel it.”

The Yankees added it late in the game, scoring a run in the sixth inning against Knack and five more against Brent Honeywell in the eighth, opening Game 4 with New York’s biggest offensive explosion of the series.

“I don’t think anyone expected these guys to fold,” Roberts said afterward. “…These guys unfortunately responded. It was a good match until it wasn’t.

Casparius added: “Obviously we want to take care of every day. A victory would have been great today. But that’s baseball.

The only silver lining in the Dodgers’ Game 4 loss was the work Knack did to eat up some of the innings, keeping the Dodgers in the game before things turned late. The right-hander had 12 outs with just one run allowed in his best postseason outing. As a result, Roberts was able to stay away from all of his high-leverage relievers, including Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen, all of whom will be rested and available on Wednesday.

“I was really trying to move forward as much as possible,” Knack said. “Really, I’m just trying to mix it well.” Last time (against the Mets), I got in trouble just trying to throw two pitches. Today I really tried to push everything forward. The mindset that followed was just to try to keep us in the game.”

The Dodgers will now send Jack Flaherty to the mound for Game 5, facing Gerrit Cole in a rematch of Game 1. Flaherty, backed by Los Angeles’ top relief teams, will try to bring the series closer to the Dodgers and keep this Fall Classic from returning to Los Angeles.

“At the end of the day, we’re still in a pretty good position,” Roberts said. “And we feel good. We will be ready to leave tomorrow.