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The championship series is going to a decisive seventh game following the Dodgers kept their title defense hopes alive Friday night with a three to one win over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a dramatic final twin killing, stunning a home crowd that had arrived prepared to celebrate the city’s first title in over three decades.

Game 6 Summary

The Dodgers produced all of their offense in the third frame. With two outs, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman drew a walk to fill the bases, and Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a 3–0 advantage.

Betts’ hit snapped a playoff dry spell and rekindled the defending champions’ aspirations of becoming the first repeat World Series winners since the Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 through 2000.

Pitching Duel

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that point, fanning six of the first seven Dodgers he confronted. He fanned eight through three frames, tying a Fall Classic mark, but the third-frame rally proved decisive. The Blue Jays' star ended with 8 Ks over six frames, yielding three earned 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 time in a week, giving up a single run on five base hits over six frames with six Ks. He improved to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him came on George Springer two-out single in the third inning, scoring Addison Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. Springer’s hit offered a brief spark in his comeback to the lineup after missing a pair of contests with an side strain.

Bullpen Heroics

After that, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh, and another rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before plunking Kirk to open the frame. Barger followed with a two-base hit that got stuck under the left-center-field fence, obliging runners to stay at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starting pitcher, entered in relief and got a pop fly before Andrés Giménez hit a line drive to left. Enrique Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to double off Barger, sealing the win and earning the pitcher his first-ever save.

Looking Ahead: Game 7

The best-of-seven now comes down to a single contest. Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, becoming the sole active hurler to start more than one seventh games of the World Series after accomplishing that in the 2019 season with Washington. The 40-year-old signed a single-season contract to chase another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this postseason.

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