After the Toronto Blue Jays opened the World Series with a dominant win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending champions got their revenge in Game 2.
The Dodgers evened the Fall Classic on Saturday night in Toronto with a convincing 5-1 win — featuring big seventh-inning home runs by Will Smith and Max Muncy and a dominant complete-game performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They head home for Monday’s Game 3.
Here’s how L.A.’s victory went down, from our in-game analysis to our postgame takeaways.
Key links: World Series schedules, results
Takeaways
Series tied at 1
It was over when …: The Dodgers tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning, one frame after two solo home runs chased Kevin Gausman from the game. Gausman had retired 17 straight and was cruising until Will Smith yanked a home run down the left-field line. Max Muncy followed with another two batters later for a 3-1 advantage. The Dodgers scored two more runs in the eighth — one coming on a wild pitch, another on a groundout — giving Yoshinobu Yamamoto plenty of cushion, even if he didn’t need it. — Jeff Passan
Game 2 star: Yamamoto threw his second straight complete game this October, needing 105 pitches to finish his four-hit, eight-strikeout, no-walk gem. When the Dodgers gave Yamamoto a 13-year, $325 million contract, they believed he would be one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. Through two seasons, with a 2.28 postseason ERA in eight playoff starts, he already has proven he is. And to do so against the Blue Jays’ potent offense made his performance Saturday even more impressive. — Passan
The stat that defined the game: The last pitcher to toss two consecutive complete games within a postseason was Curt Schilling (three straight) in 2001. — ESPN Research
What’s next for the Blue Jays: The Blue Jays will give the ball to 41-year-old Max Scherzer, hoping that the future Hall of Famer can repeat his performance in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The right-hander, with Toronto trailing 2-1 in the series, held the Seattle Mariners to two runs over 5 ⅔ innings in his first start in three weeks. Scherzer should expect a rude welcome at Dodger Stadium, four years after he said he was unable to start in Game 6 of the 2021 NLCS because of arm fatigue. The Dodgers lost that night and were eliminated from the postseason. Dodgers fans likely haven’t forgotten. Offensively, Toronto seeks to rebound from an uncharacteristically poor home showing in Game 2. The Blue Jays also scored just seven runs and lost two of three games in Los Angeles in August. — Jorge Castillo
What’s next for the Dodgers: The Dodgers will hope Tyler Glasnow can not only pick up where Yamamoto left off after his mastery of the Blue Jays in Game 2, but also continue what has been a dominant postseason. In two starts against the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, Glasnow has allowed just 1 run on 5 hits in 11⅔ innings, striking out 16 batters. Both of those starts — like this next one — occurred at home, and that’s ideal; Glasnow had a 2.77 ERA in 11 starts at Dodger Stadium during the regular season, as opposed to a 4.08 ERA in seven starts on the road. — Alden Gonzalez
