Will Smith homered in the top of the 11th inning as the Dodgers completed their first successful defense of a World Series championship with a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 Saturday evening in Toronto.
The Dodgers had tied the score with one out in the top of the ninth on a home run by their No. 9 hitter, Miguel Rojas, after trailing 3-0 on Bo Bichette’s third-inning home run off Shohei Ohtani.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-1) pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the victory, one day after he pitched six innings in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory in Game 6. Yamamoto pitched out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth.
Yamamoto allowed one hit in 2 2/3 innings, struck out one batter and walked one. He was the
Yamamoto, the last of six Dodger pitchers, relieved Blake Snell in the bottom of the ninth, after Snell walked Addison Barger on nine pitches.
Yamamoto hit the first batter he faced, Alejandro Kirk, loading the bases.
Daulton Varsho hit a ground ball to Rojas, the Dodgers’ second baseman, who threw to Smith, their catcher, who stepped on home plate just ahead of a sliding Isiah Kiner-Falefa for the force out. Kiner-Falefa had pinch run for Bichette, who had singled with one out.
Andy Pages, who entered the game to play center field when Yamamoto relieved Snell, caught a fly ball hit by Ernie Clement while colliding with Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers’ left fielder to end the inning.
The Dodgers cut the margin to 3-2 with single runs in the fourth and sixth.
Smith doubled off Max Scherzer leading off the fourth and moved to third as Freddie Freeman singled. After Mookie Betts flied out and Max Muncy walked, Smith scored on Teoscar Hernández’s sacrifice fly.
Betts drew a six-pitch walk from Chris Bassitt leading off the sixth, moved to second on Muncy’s single and third when Hernández grounded into a force out. Betts scored on Tommy Edman’s sacrifice fly.
The Blue Jays responded in their half of the sixth. Ernie Clement led off with a single off Tyler Glasnow, the third Dodger pitcher, stole second and scored as Andrés Giménez’s double.
Muncy hit a solo home run home run off Trey Yesavage with one out in the eighth, to again bring the Dodgers within a run.
The was the third time the Dodgers had returned to the World Series after winning the title the previous season. They lost to the New York Yankees in seven games in 1956 and were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.
This was the seventh time the Dodgers have played in a World Series Game 7. Their other wins came in 1955 over the New York Yankees for their only championship in Brooklyn, and in 1965 over the Minnesota Twins.