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The World Series is headed to a final Game 7 following the Dodgers kept alive their repeat hopes alive on Friday with a 3–1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic game-ending twin killing, silencing a home crowd that had arrived prepared to cheer the city’s championship in over three decades.

Game 6 Recap

The Dodgers produced all of their offense in the third inning. With two outs, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked before Smith doubled to left field to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to load the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, giving the Dodgers a 3–0 lead.

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

Mound Battle

Gausman had been dominant to that point, striking out six of the first seven batters he confronted. He struck out 8 through three frames, tying a World Series record, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace ended with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits and two walks.

Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under stress. The righty outdueled Gausman for the second time in a week, giving up one run on five hits over six frames with six Ks. He boosted his record to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him resulted from George Springer two-out single in the third, driving in Addison Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. That single provided a brief spark in his comeback to the starting nine after missing a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Heroics

From there, the Dodgers’ bullpen took over. First-year pitcher Justin Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh inning, and fellow rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Kirk to open the inning. Barger followed with a double that became wedged under the outfield wall, forcing base runners to hold at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' third game starting pitcher, entered in a relief role and induced a pop fly before Andrés Giménez lined to left field. Hernández made the catch and fired to second to retire the runner, clinching the win and earning Glasnow his first career successful save.

Next Up: Seventh Game

The series now comes down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, becoming the only living pitcher to pitch in more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with the Nationals. The veteran inked a single-season contract to chase another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this postseason.

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