The Toronto Blue Jays dodged a sweep on Sunday, pulling off a dramatic 5-4 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium and improving to 69-50 on the season. The win kept Toronto four games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East and four games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for MLB’s best record.

The game’s defining moment came in the bottom of the ninth when rookie left-hander Mason Fluharty, making just his first career save appearance, entered with the bases loaded and one out. Closer Jeff Hoffman had issued consecutive walks to Will Smith and Freddie Freeman in the eighth to blow a lead, then walked the bases loaded in the ninth before being pulled.

Fluharty faced Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, both former MVPs, and retired them back-to-back to seal the win. Ohtani battled through a nine-pitch at-bat before chasing an 83 mph sweeper for strike three.

Betts followed by grounding a 1-1 cutter for a game-ending fielder’s choice. The last MLB save in which a pitcher retired two former MVPs with the bases loaded came from Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman in 2002, according to OptaSTATS.

“No thinking, no thinking. Just go out there and do it. I was super excited, super pumped. I honestly blacked out. I have no idea what happened out there. I just trusted my pitches, attacked guys. That’s all you can do,” Mason Fluharty said about his thought process in Sunday’s ninth inning, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet reported.

Drafted in the fifth round in 2022, Fluharty now has 45 strikeouts in 43.2 innings despite a 5.15 ERA.

Toronto’s offense struck early when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled home Bo Bichette in the first, but the Dodgers quickly responded with solo home runs from Ohtani and Freeman, plus a bases-loaded walk to Freeman in the second for a 3-1 lead. Ty France’s bloop RBI single in the sixth cut the deficit to one.

In the eighth, Guerrero tied the game with his 19th homer of the year, and Addison Barger followed with his 18th for a 4-3 Blue Jays lead. Freeman’s bases-loaded walk tied it in the bottom half before Ernie Clement restored Toronto’s edge with a first-pitch homer in the ninth, his eighth of the season and second in as many games.

Toronto used seven relievers, with Yariel Rodríguez, Brendon Little, Seranthony Domínguez, Louie Varland, and Braydon Fisher all contributing. Despite striking out 35 times and recording just 24 hits in the series, the Blue Jays left Chavez Ravine with a crucial win, closing out a 4-2 road trip.

The Jays have Monday off before opening a homestand against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

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