🔗 Share this article

This year's World Series is headed to a final seventh game after the Dodgers kept alive their title defense hopes alive on Friday with a 3–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling final double play, silencing a Rogers Centre crowd that had come ready to cheer the team's championship in 32 years.

Game 6 Recap

The Dodgers produced all of their scoring in the third frame. With two away, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Smith doubled to left to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman drew a walk to fill the bases, and Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to left, handing the Dodgers a three-run advantage.

Betts’ hit snapped a playoff dry spell and rekindled the title holders' hopes of becoming the initial back-to-back championship winners since the New York Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Battle

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that stage, fanning half a dozen of the first seven batters he confronted. He fanned 8 through three innings, tying a Fall Classic mark, but the third-frame rally proved decisive. The Blue Jays' star finished with eight strikeouts over six innings, allowing three runs on three safeties and two free passes.

Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outpitched his counterpart for the second time in a seven days, allowing a single run on five base hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He boosted his record to four wins and one loss this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him came on George Springer two-out base hit in the third, driving in Addison Barger, who had doubled earlier in the inning. Springer’s hit provided a momentary lift in his comeback to the lineup after missing a pair of contests with an side strain.

Bullpen Heroics

From there, the Dodgers’ bullpen carried the load. Rookie Justin Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh, and fellow rookie Rōki Sasaki worked into the ninth inning before plunking Alejandro Kirk to start the inning. Barger then hit a two-base hit that became wedged under the outfield wall, obliging runners to hold at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starting pitcher, entered in relief and induced a pop fly before Giménez hit a line drive to left. Hernández made the catch and threw to second base to double off Barger, sealing the win and giving Glasnow his first career successful save.

Looking Ahead: Game 7

The best-of-seven now boils down to a single contest. Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, making him the only living pitcher to start more than one World Series Game 7s after accomplishing that in 2019 with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a one-year deal to chase one more title and has been a outspoken presence throughout this postseason.

The Dodgers, aiming to be baseball’s first back-to-back champions in almost 25 years, are projected to lean on their two-way star for a short outing.