🔗 Share this article

This year's championship series is going to a final Game 7 following the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their repeat hopes intact Friday night with a three to one win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling game-ending twin killing, silencing a home crowd that had come ready to celebrate the city’s championship in 32 years.

Sixth Game Recap

Los Angeles produced all of their scoring in the third frame. With two away, Ohtani was purposely passed before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to score Edman. Freddie Freeman earned a base on balls to load the bases, and Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a 3–0 lead.

That key hit snapped a playoff dry spell and revived the defending champions’ hopes of being the initial back-to-back championship victors since the Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000.

Pitching Battle

Kevin Gausman had been dominant to that point, fanning six of the first seven Dodgers he confronted. He fanned 8 through three innings, matching a World Series mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace finished with eight strikeouts over six innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits and two free passes.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was solid again under pressure. The 27-year-old right-hander outpitched Gausman for the second occasion in a seven days, giving up one run on five base hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He improved to 4–1 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 hit a double earlier in the inning. That single offered a momentary lift in his return to the starting nine after sitting out two games with an side strain.

Bullpen Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh, and another rookie Rōki Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Kirk to open the inning. Addison Barger then hit a double that became wedged under the left-center-field fence, forcing base runners to hold at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' Game 3 starting pitcher, came on in a relief role and got a popout before Andrés Giménez lined to left. Hernández caught the ball and threw to second to retire the runner, clinching the victory and earning the pitcher his first career successful save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The best-of-seven now boils down to one game. Scherzer will start for Toronto, becoming the sole active hurler to start more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a one-year deal to chase another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this postseason.

The Los Angeles squad, looking to be the sport's initial repeat champions in nearly a quarter-century, are expected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.