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

The defending champions halted Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a dramatic game-ending twin killing, stunning a home crowd that had come ready to celebrate the city’s first title in 32 years.

Game 6 Recap

The Dodgers generated all of their scoring in the third inning. With two outs, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Smith doubled to left field to score Tommy Edman. Freeman drew a walk to fill the bases, and Betts delivered with a two-run single to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a three-run lead.

That key hit broke a playoff dry spell and revived the title holders' aspirations of becoming the initial back-to-back World Series victors since the Yankees won three straight from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Duel

Kevin Gausman had been dominant to that stage, striking out six of the initial seven Dodgers he confronted. He fanned eight through three frames, tying 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 seven days, allowing a single run on five base hits over six innings with six Ks. He boosted his record to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him resulted from George Springer two-out base hit in the third, driving in Addison Barger, who had hit a double previously in the frame. Springer’s hit offered a momentary lift in his comeback to the starting nine after sitting out a pair of contests with an side strain.

Relief Effort

From there, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh inning, and fellow rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth before plunking Kirk to open the inning. Addison Barger followed with a two-base hit that got stuck under the left-center-field fence, obliging runners to stay at second and third.

Glasnow, Los Angeles’ Game 3 starting pitcher, entered in a relief role and got a popout before Giménez lined to left field. Enrique Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to retire the runner, sealing the win and earning the pitcher his first career successful save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The series now boils down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, becoming the sole active hurler to pitch in more than one seventh games of the World Series after accomplishing that in 2019 with the Nationals. The veteran inked a single-season contract 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 lean on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.