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This year's championship series is going to a decisive Game 7 following the Dodgers kept alive their title defense dreams intact Friday night with a 3–1 win over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling game-ending twin killing, silencing a Rogers Centre audience that had arrived prepared to cheer the city’s championship in 32 years.

Sixth Game Recap

Los Angeles 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 Edman. Freddie Freeman drew a walk to load the bases, and Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to left, giving the Dodgers a three-run advantage.

Betts’ hit broke a postseason slump and revived the title holders' hopes of becoming the initial back-to-back championship victors since the New York Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.

Pitching Battle

Gausman had been dominant to that point, fanning six of the first seven Dodgers he confronted. He fanned eight through three frames, tying a Fall Classic record, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace ended with eight strikeouts over six frames, allowing three earned runs on three safeties and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was solid again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outdueled his counterpart for the second time in a seven days, giving up one run on five base hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He improved to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him resulted from Springer’s two-out base hit in the third, scoring Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. That single provided a brief spark 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. First-year pitcher Justin Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh inning, and fellow rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth inning before plunking Alejandro Kirk to open the frame. Barger followed with a double that got stuck under the outfield wall, forcing base runners to stay at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starter, entered in relief and got a popout before Giménez hit a line drive to left field. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second to retire Barger, sealing the victory and earning Glasnow his first-ever successful save.

Next Up: Game 7

The best-of-seven now comes down to one game. Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, making him the sole active hurler 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 playoff run.

The Los Angeles squad, aiming to become baseball’s first back-to-back title winners in almost 25 years, are expected to rely on their two-way star for a brief appearance.