Yamamoto pitched six innings of one run for his second win in the series.
AP Sports.- Yoshinobu Yamamoto beat Toronto for the second time in a week, a slumping Mookie Betts hit a two-run single in a three-run third inning and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 3-1 on Friday night to force the World Series to a decisive Game 7.
Yamamoto was not as sharp as he was in Game 2, where he allowed only four hits, the first complete World Series game in a decade. He pitched six innings and only allowed one RBI single in the third inning to George Springer, who returned after missing two games with a right side injury.
Rookie relievers Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki combined for six outs before starter Tyler Glasnow came out of the bullpen to escape a ninth-inning jam and rescue the Dodgers.
Glasnow needed just three pitches to do it. With runners on second and third, he got Ernie Clement to fly his first pitch into the infield for the first out.
Final double play
Andrés Giménez then hit a line drive to left field that Kiké Hernández turned into a double play that ended the game.
Hernandez caught the ball running in left-center field and threw to second base, where Miguel Rojas made a difficult catch off a bouncer to complete the double play with Addison Barger.
Game 7
Max Scherzer will start Game 7 on Saturday night for the Blue Jays. He also started the final Game 7 of the World Series, where he earned a no-decision as Washington won the 2019 title against Houston.
Glasnow was slated as a possible starter for the Dodgers, who were seeking to become the first team to win consecutive titles since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000. All-star two-way player Shohei Ohtani could also be used as a starter.
Los Angeles kept alive its aspiration for a third title in six seasons and its hopes of being recognized as a dynasty.
The Yamamoto Ninja
Yamamoto, a 27-year-old right-hander in his second season with the Dodgers after winning three MVP awards in Japan, was coming off his first consecutive complete-game postseason pitch since 2001.
He allowed one run on five hits, with six strikeouts and one walk, leaving two runners on base in the sixth inning as he struck out Daulton Varsho with a splitter on his 96th and final pitch. Yamamoto is 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts and a 1.20 ERA in his two World Series outings.
Kevin Gausman lost to Yamamoto for the second time despite tying a Series record by striking out eight in the first three innings thanks to a dominant splitter.
Tommy Edman doubled with one out in the third inning, the Dodgers’ first hit. Ohtani was intentionally walked for the fifth time in the World Series and Will Smith hit an RBI double off the left field wall with a high splitter.
Freddie Freeman walked, giving Betts the turn. The three-time World Series champion came into the game with a poor record of 3 hits in 23 at-bats in the Series and had been relegated from second to third in the batting order for Game 5. On Friday, he was moved one spot lower to fourth, his lowest position in the batting order since 2017.
With the count down (1-2), Betts hit two foul balls and a hit that passed between the shortstop and third base off Gausman’s third consecutive pitch, making the score 3-0. This ended an 0-for-13 bases-loaded streak for the Dodgers dating back to the Division Series.
Chasing their first World Series title since 1993, the Blue Jays wore baby blue uniforms at home for the first time since September after earning victories in them in Games 4 and 5 in Los Angeles.
Toronto scored when Barger doubled to start the third inning and scored on Springer’s two-out single.
Gausman allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, making 15 false swings with his splitter.
Sasaki, a starter turned reliever as the Dodgers tried to bolster their bullpen, escaped a jam with two runners on and one out in the eighth inning by retiring Bo Bichette on a foul ball and Varsho on a groundout.
