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The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles are tied 1-1 in the 2025 World Series after splitting the first two games at Rogers Centre. The series shifts to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for tonight’s pivotal Game 3.
Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring with a solo homer off Max Scherzer in the second inning. Shohei Ohtani launched a solo shot of his own an inning later. In the fourth, Alejandro Kirk blasted a hanging curveball for a three-run home run followed by an Andrés Giménez sacrifice fly for a 4-2 Toronto lead.
Follow below for news, updates and analysis from our reporters.
In both of Max Scherzer’s starts in the playoffs, the opposing pitcher came out of the game first. Not many people would've predicted that given the way Scherzer's regular season ended.
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Audible boos on the Fox broadcast from Dodger Stadium as Dave Roberts pulls Tyler Glasnow and signals for his bullpen.
▶️ Strike three as Tyler Glasnow paints the inside corner, striking out Bo Bichette. Dave Roberts makes a pitching change as Glasnow goes 4 2/3 innings. Anthony Banda is coming into the game to face Daulton Varsho with two outs. | Top 5th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
▶️ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits a fly ball to right field but not deep enough. Teoscar Hernández gets the out. One down as Bo Bichette steps up to the plate. | Top 5th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
▶️ Nathan Lukes does it again. He works Tyler Glasnow for the leadoff walk to start the fifth inning. Back-to-back innings, Glasnow records a leadoff walk. Next up is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Top 5th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
Q: Do you believe anyone who says they don’t want to know what’s coming?
Whit Merrifield: “Yes, because I’ve had teammates that have told me that.”
Kyle Farmer: “People have said that to me too, and I think it’s nuts.”
Merrifield: “Insane.”
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From the players chat, more on Alejandro Kirk guarding his PitchCom closely as he calls pitches …
Whit Merrifield: “You think someone can pick up what button is being pressed? I always thought that seemed a bit paranoid.”
Kyle Farmer: “No, I don’t think they can. I just think it’s crazy how he takes it off the Velcro then puts it on last minute.”
Right on cue after that Dave Roberts interview, Anthony Banda is up in the Dodgers’ bullpen for Daulton Varsho.
I love how Alejandro Kirk takes the PitchCom off his shin guard every time instead of covering it up like every other catcher. Dodgers are so good at picking up tips, too. Watch how late he sets up glove target.
More from Dave Roberts:
💬 “It’s not ideal to have to try to cover five innings the first day of three in a row but whatever it takes to win this game. Again I feel good where we’re at offensively.”
▶️ Three up, three down fourth inning for Max Scherzer. Other than those two home runs to Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, the 41-year-old has been effective on the mound tonight. Not getting the game out of hand (so far). Onward to the fifth. | Top 5th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
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Sounds like Dave Roberts is planning to go to a left-handed reliever to face Daulton Varsho as soon as the fifth inning:
💬 “Ultimately, it’s going to be a battle of the bullpens tonight.”
On the broadcast, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says:
“The leadoff walks always seem to come back to bite you and then we gave them an extra out that inning. I think Tyler’s stuff is good and we'’l go hitter to hitter and try to get him through Bichette this next inning. We can’t give them extra outs but I really like our at-bats against Scherzer and hopefully we can stress him one more time and get to that pen.”
▶️ Teoscar Hernández with a fly ball to right field. Addison Barger tracks the ball down to make the out. Two down for Tommy Edman, who made the costly error in the previous half inning. | Bottom 4th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
Q: John Schneider said he asked home-plate ump Mark Wegner to be quicker and clearer about his call. Is that feedback you’d be open to as an ump, willing to make your calls slightly differently/sooner/louder in an environment like this?
You don’t want to quicken your timing. That’s when you make mistakes and miss pitches. You definitely might try voicing it louder and having your signal be a little bit quicker, but your timing on pitches needs to remain what you’ve been doing. I don’t know the percentage, but it’s high that when an umpire misses a pitch or play, it’s because his timing was too quick.
▶️ Max Muncy with a hit right to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who touches the bag, recording the first out. Now it’s Teoscar Hernández who hit a home run back in the second inning. | Bottom 4th Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 2
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That’s a time play. The runner has to touch the plate before the tag or the run does not score. Of course, he’s called safe so it doesn’t matter — but on the replay, it was really close as to when he touched the plate and the tag.
The plate umpire lines up where the play is going to be made and the plate to make the judgment on when the foot touches home versus the glove touches the runner.
If the runner at second is called out, you then either — if the run counts — point to the plate emphatically looking up to the press box and saying “score the run, score of the run.” If the lead runner didn’t hit the plate before the out, you turn your back to the field, facing the press box and hands in the air, almost like calling time out in football, saying “no run.”
You don’t wanna have your arms too low because that will look like you’re calling him safe.
Q: Ernie Clement advancing to second on that sacrifice fly was a huge risk, right? Worth it?
Kyle Farmer: “Aggressive, yeah, but that’s why they are where they are.”
Whit Merrifield: “I wouldn’t say huge. It was a great throw, so that made it look riskier than it was. How often is the throw that far right on the money? Not that often. Plus, up one run in the fourth, it’s a good time to push another 90 with George coming up.”
Before Alejandro Kirk’s game-changing blast, the last batter to hit a home run off a Tyler Glasnow curveball was Francisco Lindor, on May 28, 2024.
The Kirk and Lindor home runs are the only homers off Glasnow’s curveball in the past two seasons.