The Los Angeles Dodgers went into Tuesday night needing one win to celebrate their first World Series Championship since 1988. They were trudging uphill but eventually got exactly that, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1, in Game 6 to capture the title.
It didn’t come easy for the Dodgers, as Randy Arozarena homered off Tony Gonsolin in the first inning, giving the Rays an early 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay starter Blake Snell then looked like his dominant, Cy Young self on the mound, blanking the Dodgers into the sixth inning.
Luckily, Austin Barnes lined a one-out single up the middle in the sixth and that led to Rays manager Kevin Cash removing Snell from the game despite only being at 73 pitches and having been utterly dominant.
The Dodgers capitalized from there as Mookie Betts greeted Rays reliever Nick Anderson with a double down the left-field line to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. A wild pitch brought home Barnes to tie it up.
Then Corey Seager hit a grounder to first base and Betts slid in safely ahead of the tag to score the go-ahead run.
While a 2-1 lead is nice, insurance was sought after, and Betts provided that with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Dodgers some breathing room at 3-1. It was Betts’ second home run of the series.
Urias, bullpen is flawless to close out World Series
Three runs may not be a lot, but it held up as the Dodgers’ bullpen was absolutely flawless in relief of Gonsolin, tossing 7.1 shutout innings.
As was the case in the National League Championship Series, Julio Urias was called upon to close it out and he pitched 2.1 perfect innings, ending with Willy Adames striking out looking to clinch the 2020 World Series.
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