This year's championship series is headed to a decisive Game 7 after the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their repeat hopes intact Friday night with a 3–1 victory over the Blue Jays in Game 6.
The defending champions ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic final twin killing, silencing a Rogers Centre audience that had come ready to celebrate the team's championship in 32 years.
The Dodgers produced all of their offense in the third inning. With two away, Shohei Ohtani was purposely passed before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left to bring home Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to load the bases, and Mookie Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to left, handing the Dodgers a three-run advantage.
That key hit snapped a playoff dry spell and rekindled the defending champions’ aspirations of becoming the first repeat World Series victors since the Yankees captured three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.
Gausman had been dominant to that point, striking out half a dozen of the initial seven batters he faced. He struck out 8 through three innings, tying a World Series mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace finished with 8 Ks over six frames, allowing three runs on three safeties and two walks.
Yamamoto, in contrast, was steady again under stress. The righty outpitched Gausman for the second time in a seven days, allowing a single run on five hits over six innings with six Ks. He improved to four wins and one loss this playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.
The only run against him resulted from Springer’s two-out single in the third inning, driving in Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. Springer’s hit provided a brief spark in his comeback to the starting nine after sitting out two games with an oblique injury.
From there, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Justin Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh, and another rookie RĹŤki Sasaki pitched into the ninth before plunking Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Barger followed with a two-base hit that became wedged under the outfield wall, forcing runners to stay at second and third base.
Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starter, came on in a relief role and induced a popout before Andrés Giménez lined to left field. Hernández made the catch and threw to second base to retire Barger, clinching the victory and earning the pitcher his first-ever save.
The best-of-seven now comes down to one game. Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, becoming the only living pitcher to pitch in more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with Washington. The veteran signed a one-year deal to pursue one more title and has been a vocal leader throughout this playoff run.
The Los Angeles squad, aiming to become the sport's initial repeat title winners in nearly a quarter-century, are projected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.
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