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This year's World Series is going to a decisive Game 7 after the Dodgers kept alive their title defense hopes intact on Friday with a three to one 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 audience that had arrived prepared to cheer the city’s championship in over three decades.

Game 6 Recap

The Dodgers generated all of their offense in the third inning. With two away, Shohei Ohtani was purposely passed before Will Smith doubled to left to score Edman. Freddie Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a 3–0 advantage.

That key hit broke a postseason slump and rekindled the defending champions’ aspirations of being the initial back-to-back championship winners since the New York Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.

Mound Duel

Gausman had been dominant to that stage, striking out half a dozen of the initial seven Dodgers he faced. He fanned 8 through three frames, matching a World Series mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace ended with eight strikeouts over six frames, yielding three runs on three safeties and two free passes.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under stress. The righty outdueled his counterpart for the second occasion in a week, allowing a single 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 lone score against him came on George Springer two-out single in the third, driving in Barger, who had doubled earlier in the inning. That single offered a momentary lift in his return to the lineup after sitting out two games with an side strain.

Bullpen Heroics

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Justin Wrobleski escaped a tight spot in the seventh, and fellow rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth before plunking Alejandro Kirk to open the frame. Barger then hit a double that got stuck under the outfield wall, obliging base runners to stay at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starter, entered in a relief role and induced a popout before Giménez hit a line drive to left field. Enrique Hernández caught the ball and fired to second to double off the runner, sealing the victory and giving the pitcher his first career save.

Next Up: Seventh Game

The series now boils down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, making him the only living pitcher to pitch in more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in 2019 with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a single-season contract to chase one more title and has been a outspoken presence throughout this postseason.

The Dodgers, aiming to become the sport's initial repeat title winners in almost 25 years, are projected to rely on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.