Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers conjured a stunning come-from-behind victory in extra innings to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 and clinch back-to-back World Series on Saturday in one of the greatest Major League Baseball championship deciders in history. A night of jaw-dropping drama at Toronto’s Rogers Centre saw the reigning champions stave off defeat with a game-tying home run from Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning before Will Smith’s home run in the 11th put the Dodgers into the lead.
Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who had started Friday’s game six victory — then closed out the win by getting the final three outs to crown a heroic personal contribution to the series win and leave the Blue Jays heartbroken. “We just never gave up,” Dodgers home-run hero Smith said. “Kept fighting, you know, pitching our asses off, taking great at-bats, finally punched through there. We know we needed to get a run there. To be able to come in clutch, that was huge. You know, you dream of those moments – extra innings, put your team ahead. I’ll remember that forever.”
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Yamamoto — who had thrown a complete game last week in a game two win before helping the team level the series in Friday’s pulsating game six win in Toronto — was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. “I was not sure I could pitch until I went to the bullpen tonight, but I’m glad I was able to,” said Yamamoto, who had re-emerged to join the Dodgers all-hands-on-deck effort in the ninth inning just 24 hours after throwing 96 pitches in Friday’s game six win. “I did everything I could do, everything I was supposed to do and I’m so happy that I was able to win this with these teammates,” the 27-year-old right-hander said.
The Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back World Series since the New York Yankees completed a hat-trick of titles in 2000. Blue Jays manager John Schneider admitted that defeat was hard to stomach. “It will hurt for a few days, a few weeks, when you’re that close. The positive person in me will take some time to digest it,” said Schneider, whose team had outplayed the Dodgers on their way to building a 3-2 series lead earlier this week. “I thought we had chances to sweep them,” Schneider said. “I thought that we played our game, and our game is as good as anybody in baseball. So is it two heavyweights going back and forth, going back to the beginning of the series when people were calling it David versus Goliath, it’s not even close.”
– Late comeback –
The Blue Jays had looked poised to win their first MLB championship since 1993 after taking an early 3-0 lead after Bo Bichette’s third inning three-run home run with Dodgers ace Shohei Ohtani struggling from the mound. Toronto, buoyed by a superb performance from starting pitcher Max Scherzer, had led 4-2 heading into the eighth inning and were just six outs from victory. But Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy crushed a home run to make it 4-3 and give the defending champions a flicker of hope. Then Rojas punished a loose pitch in the top of the ninth to suddenly knot the score at 4-4.
Toronto then appeared set to seal a walkoff win in the bottom of the ninth inning when Yamamoto loaded the bases after taking over from reliever Blake Snell. But Rojas’s superb throw cut down Isiah Kiner-Falefa as he attempted to cross home plate. There was more drama to come when Ernie Clement’s high fly ball deep into left-centerfield saw Dodgers outfielders Kike Hernandez and Andy Pages collide as they went for the catch. Pages though came up with the ball and somehow the Dodgers had survived.
Toronto then flipped the script in the top of the 10th inning, escaping a bases-loaded situation of their own to leave the Blue Jays another chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning. Yamamoto, though, mowed through the Blue Jays in order to take it to the 11th inning. After Rojas and Ohtani were quickly out, it fell to Smith to grab his moment of history. The catcher demolished a loose pitch from Blue Jays reliever Shane Bieber 366 feet into left field to make it 5-4. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays had runners on first and third base with only one out. But Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play to end the inning and the Dodgers had clinched a sensational win.
© 2024 AFP
