TORONTO (AP) — Will Smith homered in the 11th inning after Miguel Rojas connected for a tying drive in the ninth, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in Game 7 Saturday night to become the first team in a quarter century to win consecutive World Series titles.
Los Angeles overcame 3-0 and 4-2 deficits and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees, and the first from the National League since the 1975 and ’76 Cincinnati Reds.
Smith hit a 2-0 slider off Shane Bieber into the Blue Jays’ bullpen in left, giving the Dodgers their first lead of the night.
“You dream of those moments, you know, extra innings, put your team ahead — I’ll remember that forever,” Smith said.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw 96 pitches in the Dodgers’ win on Friday, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and threw 43 pitches over 2 2/3 innings for his third win of the Series.
He gave up a leadoff double in the 11th to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was sacrificed to third. Addison Barger walked and Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts, who started a title-winning 6-4-3 double play that ended baseball’s 150th major league season, the first that began and ended outside the United States.
Los Angeles used all four of its postseason starting pitchers, with Yamamoto joined by Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.
“We’ve got a special group of guys, man,” Smith said. “We just never gave up. … Oh man, that was a fight, for seven games.”
With their ninth championship and third in six years, the Dodgers made an argument for their 2020s teams to be considered a dynasty. Dave Roberts, their manager since 2016, boosted the probability he will gain induction to the Hall of Fame.
Bo Bichette put Toronto ahead in the third with a three-run homer off Ohtani, the two-way star pitching on three days’ rest after taking the loss in Game 3.
Los Angeles closed to 3-2 on sacrifice flies from Teoscar Hernández in the fourth off Max Scherzer and Tommy Edman in the sixth against Chris Bassitt.
Andrés Giménez restored Toronto’s two-run lead with an RBI double in the sixth off Glasnow, who relieved after getting the final three outs on three pitches to save Game 6 on Friday.
Max Muncy’s eighth-inning homer off star rookie Trey Yesavage cut the Dodgers’ deficit to one run, and Rojas, inserted into the slumping Dodgers’ lineup in Game 6 to provide some energy, homered on a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman.
Toronto put two on with one out in the bottom half against Snell, and Los Angeles turned to Yamamoto.
He hit Kirk on a hand with a pitch, loading the bases and prompting the Dodgers to play the infield in and the outfield shallow. Daulton Varsho grounded to second, where Rojas stumbled but managed to throw home for a forceout as catcher Smith kept his foot on the plate.
Ernie Clement then flied out to Andy Pages, who made a jumping, backhand catch on the center-field warning track as he crashed into left fielder Kiké Hernández.
Seranthony Domínguez walked Betts with one out in the 10th and Muncy singled for his third hit. Hernández walked, loading the bases. Pages grounded to shortstop, where Giménez threw home for a forceout. Guerrero fielded a grounder to the right side and threw to pitcher Seranthony Domínguez covering first, just beating Hernández in a call upheld in a video review.
The epic night matched the Marlins’ 3-2 win over Cleveland in 1997 as the second-longest Series Game 7, behind only the Washington Senators’ 4-3 victory against the New York Giants in 1924.
The memorable matchup included the World Series’ first pinch-hit grand slam, the first complete game in a decade, an 18-inning Game 3 featuring Ohtani reaching base nine times, six outs on the bases and Freddie Freeman becoming the first to hit two walk-off homers, the first back-to-back homers opening a game, a 22-year-old striking out a rookie record with 12 just six weeks after his debut and the first game-ending double play in which an outfielder had a putout or assist.
Visiting teams had won four straight Game 7s dating to 2014 after home teams won nine in a row from 1982 to 2011.
Emotions were high, with benches and bullpens clearing when Giménez was hit on the right hand by a 96.4 mph fastball from Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski in the fourth. No punches were thrown.
Ohtani was given extended time after ending the top of the first on base and making the final out of the third, causing the between-innings break to reach 4 1/2 minutes.
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