In the World Series, every plate appearance matters. For the Toronto Blue Jays, catcher Alejandro Kirk certainly made his count in the top of the fourth inning. After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette reached base to begin the inning, Kirk hit paydirt after he demolished a first pitch curveball from Tyler Glasnow all the way to left-center field to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead.

There was some nervous energy around the Blue Jays after Glasnow induced a flyball from Daulton Varsho after their first two hitters in the inning reached base. But Kirk was not about to let the Dodgers starter get away with that pitch. In a bit of carelessness from Glasnow, he threw a hanging curve right in the middle of the zone, and the Blue Jays catcher was all over that pitch.

The Dodgers getting an early lead could have been a recipe for disaster for the Blue Jays. After all, LA's starters have been so good, and pitching from an advantageous position relieves some of the pressure on their starter from the mound. This was the case in Game 2, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto mowed down the Blue Jays lineup and threw a complete game after LA's offense delivered with the long balls.

Max Scherzer had already allowed a solo shot each to Teoscar Hernandez, former Blue Jay, and Shohei Ohtani, someone who was almost a Blue Jay, and this put a mountain of pressure on Toronto to score some runs to get one step closer to forcing LA to go to their bullpen.

But Kirk clearly is up to the task. Hitting a home run in the World Series is no joke, and hitting a go-ahead one, even more so.

Article Continues Below

They added one more run later on in the inning, with Andres Gimenez driving in Addison Barger on a sacrifice fly.

Blue Jays look to hang on to lead in World Series Game 3

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer (31) talks to manager John Schneider (14) in the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners during game four of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park.
Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

It's not going to be an easy task for the Blue Jays to protect a two-run lead over the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series. Scherzer, however, did his best. He pitched 4.1 innings, and he was relieved in the bottom of the fifth after he got Andy Pages out to follow up the leadoff single he allowed to Kike Hernandez.

It's up to their bullpen now to see them through as they look to regain the lead in the World Series.