TORONTO — 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 post-season complete game since 2017, Yamamoto retired his final 20 batters in the first complete game in the Series since Kansas City’s Johnny Cueto against the New York Mets in Game 2 of 2015.
No pitcher had thrown consecutive complete games in the post-season 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 1-1 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.
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. He needed 23 pitches to get through the first inning before settling down.
Yamamoto struck out eight and walked none, improving to 5-1 over two post-seasons with the Dodgers, who are 7-1 in his starts.
Using an array of six pitches, he 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.
After a travel day, the Series resumes Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
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