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This year's championship series is headed to a decisive seventh game after the Los Angeles Dodgers kept alive their repeat hopes alive Friday night with a 3–1 victory over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a dramatic game-ending double play, silencing a home crowd that had come ready to celebrate the team's championship in 32 years.

Sixth Game Summary

The Dodgers generated all of their scoring in the third frame. With two outs, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to score Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to load the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to left, giving the Dodgers a three-run lead.

Betts’ hit broke a playoff dry spell and rekindled the title holders' hopes of becoming the first repeat championship winners since the New York Yankees captured three consecutive from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Duel

Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that stage, fanning half a dozen of the first seven Dodgers he faced. He fanned eight through three frames, matching a Fall Classic mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Blue Jays' star ended with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three runs on three safeties and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under stress. The righty outpitched Gausman for the second time in a seven days, allowing one run on five hits over six frames with six strikeouts. He improved 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, scoring Barger, who had hit a double earlier in the inning. That single offered a brief spark in his comeback to the lineup after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. First-year pitcher Justin Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh, and another rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth inning before plunking Kirk to open the inning. Addison Barger then hit a two-base hit that got stuck under the left-center-field fence, forcing runners to stay at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' third game starter, entered in a relief role and got a pop fly before Giménez lined to left. Enrique Hernández made the catch and threw to second base to double off Barger, clinching the victory and giving Glasnow his first-ever save.

Next Up: Seventh Game

The series now comes down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, making him the sole active hurler to pitch in more than one World Series Game 7s after accomplishing that in 2019 with Washington. The veteran inked a one-year deal to chase one more title 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 expected to rely on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.