The Los Angeles Dodgers lost 6–1 to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. The defending champions now trail the series 3–2, with the Blue Jays on the verge of securing their first title since 1993.
Game 5 began horribly for Los Angeles starter Blake Snell. On the very first pitch of the night, Toronto’s Davis Schneider smacked a 97 mph fastball for a home run, followed two pitches later by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who also went deep to left field. This was the first time in World Series history that consecutive home runs opened a game.
Down 2–0 early, the 32-year-old left-hander had difficulty establishing his fastball but eventually settled in afterward, completing 6.2 innings while allowing five runs on six hits. He struck out seven but walked four and threw two wild pitches. Reliever Edgardo Henriquez inherited runners in the seventh inning, allowing both to score without recording an out, extending the Blue Jays' lead to 5–1.
Regardless of the difficult start, Snell stayed level-headed, attributing the loss to misfortune rather than mistakes.
“I’m not one to make excuses or anything close to that,” Snell said. “But yeah, it’s just pretty unlucky. Only so much you can do… and that’s baseball.”
In his three World Series starts, Snell has allowed 10 earned runs over 11.2 innings, including a loss in Game 1, and confirmed he would be available to start a potential Game 7, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
Toronto’s rookie sensation, Trey Yesavage, shut down the Dodgers’ offense, throwing seven innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks, becoming the first pitcher in World Series history to record 11+ strikeouts with zero walks in a game. Yesavage, who debuted in September and started the season in Single-A, also broke the record for most strikeouts in a World Series game by a pitcher aged 22 or younger. His use of a sharp slider and splitter kept Los Angeles hitters off balance, allowing only three hits and a solo home run by Kik Hernandez in the third inning.
Los Angeles lineup was unable to counter the Blue Jays’ pitching. Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4, continuing a hitless streak that reached seven at-bats following his World Series record of reaching base nine times in Game 3. Overall, the Dodgers have scored only four runs over 29 innings and are averaging 3.54 runs per game since the wild card round.
Looking ahead, the Dodgers travel to Toronto for Game 6, needing a win to stay alive. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has pitched two complete games this postseason, will start in an attempt to force a Game 7, while Kevin Gausman takes the mound for the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Friday.
