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This year's championship series is going to a final seventh game after the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their title defense dreams intact on Friday with a three to one win over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic game-ending twin killing, stunning a home audience that had come ready to celebrate the team's championship in over three decades.

Game 6 Recap

The Dodgers generated all of their offense in the third frame. With two outs, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith doubled to left field to bring home Edman. Freddie Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a 3–0 advantage.

That key hit broke a playoff dry spell and revived the title holders' hopes of being the initial back-to-back World Series winners since the New York Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 through 2000.

Pitching Battle

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that point, striking out half a dozen of the initial seven batters he confronted. He struck out 8 through three innings, matching a Fall Classic record, but the third-inning barrage proved decisive. The Blue Jays' star ended with 8 Ks over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three safeties and two free passes.

Yoshinobu 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 one run on five base hits over six frames with six Ks. He improved to four wins and one loss this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him came on George Springer two-out single in the third, scoring Addison Barger, who had hit a double previously in the frame. That single offered a momentary lift in his comeback to the starting nine after sitting out two games with an oblique injury.

Relief Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. First-year pitcher Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh inning, and another rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before plunking Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Addison Barger then hit a double that became wedged under the left-center-field fence, forcing runners to stay at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' Game 3 starting pitcher, came on in relief and induced a popout before Andrés Giménez lined to left field. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to double off Barger, sealing the win and earning Glasnow his first career save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The best-of-seven now boils down to a single contest. Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, making him the sole active hurler to start more than one seventh games of the World Series after accomplishing that in 2019 with Washington. The veteran signed a single-season contract to pursue another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this postseason.

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