🔗 Share this article

This year's World Series is going to a decisive Game 7 after the Los Angeles 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 halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic final double play, stunning a Rogers Centre crowd that had arrived prepared to celebrate the team's first title in over three decades.

Game 6 Summary

Los Angeles generated all of their offense in the third inning. With two away, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Smith doubled to left field to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, giving the Dodgers a 3–0 lead.

Betts’ hit snapped a postseason slump 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 to 2000.

Pitching Duel

Gausman had been dominant to that point, striking out six of the first seven Dodgers he faced. He fanned 8 through three innings, tying a Fall Classic record, but the third-frame rally proved costly. The Toronto ace ended with eight strikeouts over six frames, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in contrast, was steady again under pressure. The 27-year-old right-hander outpitched Gausman for the second occasion in a week, allowing one run on five base hits over six frames with six Ks. He boosted his record to four wins and one loss this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him resulted from Springer’s two-out single in the third, scoring Barger, who had hit a double earlier in the inning. That single provided a momentary lift in his comeback to the lineup after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Justin Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh, and another rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Barger followed with a double that got stuck under the outfield wall, obliging base runners to hold at second and third base.

Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starting pitcher, entered in a relief role and got a popout before Giménez hit a line drive to left field. Enrique Hernández made the catch and threw to second to double off Barger, clinching the victory and earning Glasnow his first career successful save.

Next Up: Seventh Game

The series now boils down to one game. Scherzer will start for Toronto, making him the only living pitcher to start more than one seventh games of the World Series after accomplishing that in the 2019 season with Washington. The 40-year-old inked a single-season contract to chase another championship and has been a outspoken presence throughout this playoff run.

The Dodgers, aiming to be the sport's first back-to-back champions in nearly a quarter-century, are projected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.