🔗 Share this article

This year's World Series is headed to a final Game 7 following the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their title defense hopes intact on Friday with a 3–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling game-ending twin killing, stunning a home audience that had come ready to cheer the team's championship in 32 years.

Game 6 Recap

Los Angeles produced all of their scoring in the third frame. With two outs, Shohei Ohtani was purposely passed before Smith hit a two-bagger to left to bring home Edman. Freddie Freeman drew a walk to load the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-run single to the opposite field, giving the Dodgers a three-run advantage.

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

Mound Battle

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that stage, fanning half a dozen of the initial seven batters he confronted. He fanned eight through three innings, matching a Fall Classic record, but the third-inning barrage proved decisive. The Blue Jays' star finished with eight strikeouts over six frames, allowing three earned runs on three safeties and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in contrast, was solid again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outdueled Gausman for the second time in a seven days, giving up a single run on five hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He boosted his record to four wins and one loss this playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him came on George Springer two-out single in the third, driving in Barger, who had hit a double previously in the frame. Springer’s hit offered a brief spark in his return to the starting nine after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Effort

From there, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a jam in the seventh inning, and another rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Addison Barger then hit a double that became wedged under the outfield wall, forcing base runners to hold at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' third game starting pitcher, came on in relief and induced a pop fly before Giménez lined to left field. Enrique Hernández made the catch and fired to second to double off the runner, clinching the victory and giving the pitcher his first-ever successful save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The series now comes down to one game. Max Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, making him the only living pitcher to pitch in multiple seventh games of the World Series after doing so in 2019 with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a single-season contract to pursue another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this playoff run.

The Los Angeles squad, aiming to become baseball’s first back-to-back champions in nearly a quarter-century, are expected to rely on their two-way star for a brief appearance.