LAPD form skirmish line, disperse unruly crowd in downtown LA

For a team that looked shell-shocked 24 hours earlier under the dome of the Rogers Centre, the Los Angeles Dodgers rediscovered their rhythm on Saturday night. 

They found it in the sharp turns of Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s breaking ball, in the sound of Will Smith’s bat cracking through the northern air, and in the quiet resilience that championship teams seem to summon when the moment demands it.

Smith knocked in three, and Yamamoto dazzled on the game’s grandest stage yet again, as the Dodgers evened the 2025 World Series at one game apiece with a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays — a taut, beautifully constructed contest that shifted on precision, not power.

“That was a big loss last night,” said Yamamoto through a translator. “Needless to say today’s game, we had to win. So that’s just how I treated this game.”

It began, fittingly, with two outs. Freddie Freeman doubled down the line in right, a vintage swing from a hitter who lives in the moments between pressure and poise. One pitch later, Smith brought him home with a single to left, silencing a sold-out crowd that had spent most of the day rehearsing noise.

For Yamamoto, this was a night to remind the baseball world why he’s revered on two continents. The 27-year-old right-hander — equal parts art and arithmetic — danced through early trouble, twice escaping runners on the corners without surrendering the knockout blow. His first test came immediately in the bottom of the first, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped in with two on and none out. Yamamoto never blinked. Three outs later, the scoreboard still read zero.

“The most amazing part of Yamamoto’s start tonight was getting out of the first inning,” said teammate, and future Hall of Famer, Clayton Kershaw, who was in the bullpen watching the game. “He had first and third with nobody out and Vladdy up and somehow he managed to pitch himself out of that.”

Toronto managed to scratch one across in the third, Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly bringing home George Springer to tie the game at one.

But from that moment forward, Yamamoto was untouchable. He retired the next 20 batters he faced–a new Dodgers franchise record–his delivery smooth as silk, his demeanor as unflappable as if he were throwing a bullpen on a lazy Sunday afternoon in April.

“I gave up a run, it started by hit by pitch, and I just reset my mind,” said Yamamoto of how he was able to dominate after allowing the game-tying sac fly in the third inning. “After I gave up the run, it was still just a tie, so I just kept going. To be honest, I was not thinking I can complete the game because my pitch count racked up kind of quickly. But I’m very happy I completed the game.”

On the other side, Kevin Gausman was just as brilliant. After allowing that early run, he carved through the Dodgers’ lineup like a man in total control, retiring 17 straight hitters. His splitter danced with late life, his fastball found the edges, and his rhythm lulled the crowd into believing Toronto would seize command of the series.

“Kev [Kevin Gausman] was really good. I thought he matched him [Yamamoto] pitch for pitch,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “They both had low pitch counts. It was kind of a classic pitchers’ duel and they made a couple more swings.”

Those couple swings define baseball, because as the game has always revealed, everything can turn on just one swing.

In the seventh, with one out, Smith stepped in again — the same quiet leader who had delivered in the first. This time, he launched Gausman’s fastball into the cool Canadian night, sending it arcing into the second-deck. It was his first home run of the postseason, a bolt of release from a catcher whose value has always been steadier than spectacular.

“It’s a big swing obviously,” said Smith of his home run. “I was trying to get the guys going and keep that momentum for us.”

Two batters later, Max Muncy followed with a shot of his own — an opposite-field blast that barely cleared the wall but felt like a statement. A 3–1 lead, earned through patience, timing, and the simple refusal to fold.

As the final out nestled into Muncy’s glove, the Dodgers walked off the field together — a team re-centered, a series reborn. Yamamoto stayed on the top of the mound, high-fiving and hugging his teammates. He had just delivered another complete game masterpiece. Nine innings. 27 outs. Eight strikeouts. His command of the moment felt effortless — a symphony of spin and serenity.

Yamamoto became the first pitcher to go the distance in the World Series since Johnny Cueto did it with the Kansas City Royals in 2015. He was the first Dodgers’ pitcher to throw back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Orel Hershisher in 1988.

“He was outstanding, uber competitive, special. He was just locked in tonight,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of Yamamoto. “He said before the series, losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight.”

Now the stage shifts west, to Dodger Stadium, where the series will continue under the California sun. Tyler Glasnow is slated to start Game 3 in front of the home crowd, with Shohei Ohtani — the global phenomenon who has waited all year for this moment — lined up for Game 4.

In a postseason that has already swung wildly between dominance and doubt, Game 2 offered a different kind of beauty — a masterclass in restraint, rhythm, and resolve.

Sometimes redemption doesn’t come in grand gestures. Sometimes, it comes in a well-placed fastball, a flick of the wrist, and a catcher who simply refuses to let the story end too soon.

The Dodgers are going home. And for the first time in this World Series, so is the momentum.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Source: NBC Los Angeles