TORONTO — Starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kevin Gausman went old school Saturday with a classic pitching duel in Game 2 of the World Series.
Gausman batted first and the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage.
The Toronto pitcher retired 17 straight batters before Will Smith hit a solo shot in the seventh inning and Max Muncy struck out two batters later to lead the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays.
Yamamoto gave up a run in the third before retiring 19 consecutive Toronto batters for the entire game to help Los Angeles even take the best-of-seven series to one game each.
“All of his pitches worked for him,” Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lux said. “He's good. He's one of the best for a reason, and he showed that tonight.”
The Dodgers scored a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning to quiet the sold-out crowd of 44,607 at Rogers Center. Game three is set for Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
“Outstanding, incredibly competitive, special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his starting lineup. “He was locked in tonight. It was one of those things he said before the match – losing is impossible – and he looked like that tonight.”
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Yamamoto allowed one earned run and four hits while striking out eight. He didn't walk as a batter.
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“My pitching style is to just keep attacking the zone,” Yamamoto said. “So with every pitch, I focus on getting into the strike zone.”
He got out of jams in the first and third innings before shutting down the home team completely. Yamamoto threw 73 of his 105 pitches for strikes.
He became the first pitcher to throw consecutive complete games in the postseason since Curt Schilling hit three in a row for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.
“I just feel like part of his DNA is to just perform at a high level in important places, control his heart rate and just keep pitching,” Roberts said. “He could (throw) 30, 40 more pitches tonight.”
Gausman, meanwhile, got into a rhythm after giving up a single from Smith that brought in Freddie Freeman in the first inning. The veteran right-hander went back and forth with his counterpart, and neither pitcher had much time to rest before heading back to the mound.
“There are a lot of really good pitchers in this series, so that’s probably what you’ll see,” Gausman said. “The best against the best. So of course it was fun to be a part of it.
– But, as I said, let's move on to the next one.
Home advantage has now passed to the defending champions.
The Blue Jays, who won the opener 11-4, will need to win at least once in their next three road games to secure a return to Rogers Center for a potential Game 6 on Friday.
The Blue Jays made their final trip, winning two of three in Seattle and then winning back-to-back games at home to capture the American League pennant.
“Our thinking remains pretty consistent,” said Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman. “We come in, we want to play our baseball and dictate what happens in the game with our bats and our pitches.”
When the World Series is tied at one, the winner of Game 3 wins the series 67 percent of the time.
Toronto's Max Scherzer (1-0, 3.18 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday against fellow right-hander Tyler Glasnow (0-0, 0.68).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
