Dodgers defeat Blue Jays to force Game 7 in World Series

(AFP) The Los Angeles Dodgers remain alive in baseball's World Series by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on the road on Friday to force a seventh and final game.

The Blue Jays, who had their first championship since 1993 in hand, failed to finish off the defending champions, who scored early on and had quality pitching, led by Japan's Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Toronto had one last chance to even the score when, threatening with runners at second and third base, the Puerto Rican Kike Hérnandez made an impressive defensive play to seal the Dodgers’ victory.

The Major League Baseball championship series, tied 3-3, will be determined this Saturday in the final game, in Toronto.

The last time a Fall Classic was settled in Game 7 was in 2019, with the Washington Nationals winning over the Houston Astros.

With Shohei Ohtani off again, the Dodgers clung to their defense to preserve hopes of a repeat title, an accomplishment unheard of since the Yankees' three-peat (1998 to 2000).

Mookie Betts, another of the Dodgers' stars, made a providential appearance in a series in which he had gone unnoticed.

Betts drove in two of the three runs that gave the Dodgers the lead in the third inning and that the Blue Jays were unable to overcome against a strong outing by Yamamoto.

The Blue Jays, led by Dominican-Canadian Vladimir Guerrero Jr., had their worst night of the World Series.

The 45,000 Canadian fans, who created a pressure cooker at the Rogers Center, will have to wait to celebrate the franchise's first championship since back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993.