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This year's championship series is headed to a decisive Game 7 after the Dodgers kept their title defense hopes intact Friday night with a 3–1 victory over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The reigning title holders halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic final double play, stunning a home crowd that had come ready to celebrate the city’s first title in 32 years.

Game 6 Recap

Los Angeles generated all of their scoring in the third frame. With two away, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith doubled to left to score Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-run single to the opposite field, giving the Dodgers a 3–0 lead.

Betts’ hit broke a postseason slump and revived the defending champions’ hopes of becoming the first repeat championship victors since the Yankees captured three straight from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Battle

Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that point, striking out half a dozen of the initial seven batters he faced. He fanned 8 through three innings, matching a Fall Classic mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Blue Jays' star finished with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three safeties and two free passes.

Yamamoto, meanwhile, was solid again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outdueled his counterpart for the second time in a week, allowing a single run on five hits over six innings with six Ks. He boosted his record to four wins and one loss this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him came on Springer’s 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 return to the lineup after sitting out two games with an oblique injury.

Bullpen Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Justin Wrobleski got out of a jam in the seventh, and fellow rookie Rōki Sasaki worked into the ninth before plunking Kirk to open the inning. Barger then hit a two-base hit that became wedged under the left-center-field fence, obliging runners to hold at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' Game 3 starting pitcher, came on in relief and induced a popout before Andrés Giménez hit a line drive to left. Enrique Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to retire the runner, clinching the win and earning Glasnow his first career save.

Next Up: Seventh Game

The series now boils down to a single contest. Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, becoming the sole active hurler to pitch in multiple World Series Game 7s after doing so in 2019 with the Nationals. The 40-year-old inked a one-year deal to chase another championship and has been a outspoken presence throughout this postseason.

The Los Angeles squad, looking to be the sport's initial repeat champions in almost 25 years, are projected to rely on Shohei Ohtani for a short outing.