TORONTO (AP) — A two-run lead was starting to slip away from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning — along with their chance to force the World Series to Game 7.
And then Kiké Hernández turned what might have been a tying, two-run single by Andrés Giménez into the first game-ending left field-to-second base in postseason history.
“The crazy thing is I had no idea where the ball was because it was in the lights the whole time,†Hernández said after preserving a 3-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 on Friday night.
Instead of getting a World Series-winning, three-run homer like the one Joe Carter hit off Philadelphia's Mitch Williams to capture the title in Game 6 in 1993, the Blue Jays were pushed to Game 7 and the Dodgers kept alive their chance to become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.
for Toronto against a Dodgers pitcher still to be determined — perhaps two-way star Shohei Ohtani, perhaps Tyler Glasnow. The October Classic will end in November for the 10th time.
“It’s the two best words in sports: Game 7," Toronto manager John Schneider said.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto beat Toronto for the second time in a week by allowing one run in six innings, and slumping Mookie Betts hit a two-run single in a three-run third against Kevin Gausman that included Will Smith's go-ahead double.
George Springer, back after missing two games with a sore right side, hit an RBI single in the bottom half, and the Dodgers held that 3-1 lead going to the ninth.
Roki Sasaki hit Alejandro Kirk on the left wrist with an 0-2 splitter leading off and Addison Barger followed with a drive that landed at the base of the left-center wall. In a seldom-seen rarity, the ball lodged there instead of caroming back into play.
Both runners crossed the plate as many in the Rogers Centre crowd initially thought Toronto had tied the game, but the rule book is clear that a ball lodged in a fence is a ground-rule double. The runners were placed at second and third, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in Glasnow, who was lined up to start Game 7 on normal rest.
“I just felt that Roki wasn’t as sharp, and I just felt we needed some swing-and-miss and Glasnow was the guy. So I had him loose, kind of looming,†Roberts said.
Glasnow escaped with just three pitches, earning the first save of the Series.
Ernie Clement popped up his initial offering to first base. Giménez took a ball and hit the next 247 feet to the opposite field, in short left.
Hernández said he decided to play more shallow than the Dodgers' scouting card called for. He ran 52 feet and while on the run made a catch that had only a 40% probability, then delivered a one-hop throw to second baseman Miguel Rojas that doubled up Barger.
“For a split second as Glasnow threw the ball, the crowd got quiet and I was able to hear that the bat broke,†Hernández said. “So I just got a really good jump on the ball and I came in and halfway there, the ball got in the lights. And I was just like, not the right time to stop to see where the ball is, just keep going.
“It’s going to hit me in the face — but I’m not stopping,†Hernández remembered thinking. "I’m not pulling up. And at the very end, the ball came out of the lights and went into my glove.â€
Barger had gotten about halfway to third before scrambling back, and he reached second base too late with his headfirst slide.
“I was being too aggressive, trying to score, try to tie that game if that ball drops," Barger said.
Even after the umpire signaled out, players had to wait 60 seconds for the call to be upheld by the replay room in New York.
Rojas had been inserted into the lineup for his first start since Oct. 6 in an effort by Roberts to spark which is batting .191 after winning with just four hits.
“Pretty epic ending there," Rojas said.
Yamamoto was not quite as sharp as in his Game 2 four-hitter, the first World Series complete game in a decade. Rookie reliever Justin Wrobleski struck out Giménez to strand a runner at second in the seventh and Sasaki got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth when Bo Bichette fouled out and Daulton Varsho grounded out.
Then came the first game-ending double play in World Series history in which an outfielder had a putout or assist, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“Man, we live for Game 7, so here we go,†Roberts said.
Yamamoto, winner of three MVP awards in Japan, improved to 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts and has a 1.20 ERA in his two Series outings.
Tommy Edman doubled with one out in the third for the Dodgers’ first hit. Ohtani was intentionally walked for the fifth time in the Series and Smith hit an RBI double off the left-field wall on a high splitter. Freddie Freeman walked, bringing up Betts.
With Los Angeles seeking its third title in six seasons, Roberts dropped the slumping Betts from second to third in the batting order in Game 5 and then to fourth in Game 6 — the lowest Betts had hit since 2017.
Betts fell behind 1-2 in the count, fouled off two pitches and laced Gausman’s third straight fastball between shortstop and third for a 3-0 lead. That ended an 0-for-13 stretch with the bases loaded for the Dodgers that dated to the Division Series.
“He could hit me seventh, I don’t care. I just want to win," said Betts, already a three-time champion. “Whatever we do, however we get there, I’ll jump on whoever’s back to go. We all get a ring, that’s all I care about.â€
Up next
Scherzer and Glasnow started Game 3, won by the Dodgers 6-5 in 18 innings. A 41-year-old right-hander, Scherzer will become the fourth pitcher to start multiple World Series winner-take-all Game 7s after Bob Gibson (1964, ’67, ’68), Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ’58). Scherzer allowed two runs over five innings for Washington against Houston in 2019, and the ºÃÉ«tvs rallied for a 6-2 win.
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