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This year's World Series is going to a decisive Game 7 following the Dodgers kept their title defense hopes alive Friday night with a three to one victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a thrilling final double play, stunning a home crowd that had arrived prepared to celebrate the city’s championship in 32 years.

Game 6 Recap

Los Angeles generated all of their scoring in the third inning. With two away, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to bring home Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to left, handing the Dodgers a three-run lead.

Betts’ hit broke a postseason slump and revived the defending champions’ hopes of becoming the initial back-to-back championship winners since the New York Yankees captured three straight from 1998 to 2000.

Mound Battle

Kevin Gausman had been dominant to that stage, fanning half a dozen of the initial seven Dodgers he faced. He fanned eight through three innings, matching a Fall Classic record, but the third-frame rally proved decisive. The Blue Jays' star ended with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits and two free passes.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under pressure. The righty outpitched Gausman for the second occasion in a seven days, allowing a single run on five base hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He improved to four wins and one loss this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him came on Springer’s two-out single in the third inning, driving in Barger, who had hit a double earlier in the inning. That single offered a brief spark in his comeback to the starting nine after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Heroics

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh, and another rookie Rōki Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Barger then hit a two-base hit that became wedged under the left-center-field fence, forcing runners to stay at second and third.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ third game starter, came on in a relief role and induced a popout before Giménez lined to left. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to double off Barger, clinching the win and giving the pitcher his first-ever successful save.

Looking Ahead: Game 7

The best-of-seven now boils down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, becoming the sole active hurler to start more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in 2019 with Washington. The veteran inked a single-season contract to chase one more title and has been a vocal leader throughout this postseason.

The Dodgers, looking to be the sport's first back-to-back champions in almost 25 years, are expected to lean on their two-way star for a brief appearance.