By RONALD BLUM
TORONTO (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece.
Coming off a three-hitter against Milwaukee in the National League Championship Series that was the first postseason complete game since 2017, Yamamoto retired his final 20 batters to finish the first complete game in the Fall Classic since Kansas City’s Johnny Cueto went the distance 10 years ago against the New York Mets in Game 2.
“I was trying to be in the game relaxed, but it’s the World Series. So I kind of, early on, I was throwing with unnecessary tension,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “So I just adjusted that as the game went on.”
No pitcher had thrown consecutive complete games in the postseason since Arizona ace Curt Schilling, who tossed three in a row in the 2001 NL Division Series and NLCS.
Will Smith had three RBIs for the Dodgers, breaking a 1-all tie with a seventh-inning home run off Kevin Gausman, who had retired 17 batters in a row. Max Muncy added another solo homer later in the inning.
It was the first postseason game in which two pitchers both retired 17 or more consecutive batters, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
A 27-year-old right-hander in his second big league season, Yamamoto threw 105 pitches — 73 for strikes — after tossing 111 against the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS on Oct. 14. He needed 23 pitches to get through the first inning before settling down.
“He’s just not letting anything get to him. His last start, he had the leadoff homer and ended up finishing the game. And then today, he threw 20, 25 pitches in the first inning, and then to be able to keep that pitch count under control and get through nine, it’s really impressive,” Muncy said.
“From what I’ve seen, there’s nothing that fazes him out there. He keeps his composure at all times and he just thinks about executing his next pitch.”
Yamamoto struck out eight and walked none, improving to 5-1 over two postseasons with the Dodgers, who are 7-1 in his starts.
He became the first Dodgers pitcher to win back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Orel Hershiser in 1988.
“It’s been fun these last two outings. He can kind of do everything,” said Smith, the Dodgers’ catcher. “Yoshi the last two outings has been just as dominant as can be.”
Using an array of six pitches, Yamamoto permitted his only run in the third after he hit George Springer near his wrist with a pitch and gave up Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s single off the left-field wall. That was the last runner allowed by Yamamoto, who started his streak by retiring Alejandro Kirk on a sacrifice fly.
Freddie Freeman had a two-out double in the first and scored on Smith’s single.
Smith homered into the left-field second deck on a full-count fastball, and two batters later Muncy hit an opposite-field drive to left off a fastball on the outside corner. Jeff Hoffman threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth and Smith followed by grounding into an RBI forceout.
After a travel day, the Series resumes Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles went ahead for the second straight night, scoring in the first when Freeman doubled after fouling off three two-strike pitches and came around on Smith’s single.
Springer’s double and Nathan Lukes’ single put runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom half but Yamamoto struck out Guerrero, retired Kirk on a liner to first and froze Daulton Varsho with a called third strike.
“Keeping it zero there was huge,” Smith said.
Freeman made an uncharacteristic fielding mistake, overrunning Ernie Clement’s leadoff popup in the second that fell for a 36-foot single, but Yamamoto retired the next three batters.
A day after Bo Bichette returned from a sprained knee that sidelined him for seven weeks, the two-time All-Star began the game on the Toronto bench. He pinch hit in the seventh, grounded out and stayed in the game at second base.
Up next
Blue Jays RHP Max Scherzer faces Dodgers RHP Tyler Glasnow in Game 3. A three-time Cy Young Award winner, the 41-year-old Scherzer will become the first pitcher to make Series starts for four teams. He got his only decision for Washington when he beat Houston in the 2019 opener. Glasnow has a 0.68 ERA this postseason.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
