The Blue Jays’ 11–4 blowout win over the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2025 World Series on Friday night turned into a laugher. Game 2 was anything but.

In a pitcher’s duel between Toronto veteran Kevin Gausman and Los Angeles ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers separated themselves with two big blasts by Will Smith and Max Muncy in the seventh inning. It was enough for Los Angeles to ride Yamamoto’s right arm the rest of the way for a 5–1 win to even up the World Series at one game apiece.

The World Series now shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3. But before it does, let’s take a look at what we learned from Game 2:

An October legend in the making

A star is born.

The last time Yamamoto took the hill in a playoff game, he allowed just one run in a complete game to lead the Dodgers to a 5–1 win over the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS. He did it again Saturday night on baseball’s biggest stage.

Yamamoto allowed just one run on four hits over nine innings with eight strikeouts against the Blue Jays in Game 2. He’s the first pitcher to log back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Curt Schilling did it for the Diamondbacks in 2001.

Yamamoto found himself in trouble early, allowing at least one baserunner in the first three innings, and the Blue Jays got one run across on a sacrifice fly in the third. But he was lights out the rest of the evening, retiring 20 straight batters.

In two career World Series starts, Yamamoto has surrendered just two runs on five hits with 12 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings—a 1.17 ERA.

Gettin’ jiggy wit it

Entering Game 2, Dodgers catcher Will Smith had nine hits in this postseason run, but all nine were singles. He added another base knock in the first inning off Gausman—one that brought in the first run of the game—but Smith saved the biggest swing of the Dodgers’ postseason run for the seventh.

With one out in the inning, Smith squared up a 3–2 fastball and sent it 404 feet into the upper deck in left field for a 2–1 lead.

Smith’s timely hitting calmed concerns about the Dodgers’ offense. There’s not much to complain about Los Angeles’s 9–2 record this postseason, but it’s been on the backs of an elite pitching staff. The Dodgers are batting just .230 with runners in scoring position this postseason, and most of that damage was done in a two-game sweep over the Reds in the wild-card round.

The Dodgers’ offense woke up in Game 2. Bad news for Toronto.

Lights weren’t too bright for Gausman

Thirteen seasons and 373 career appearances in the big leagues later, 34-year-old Kevin Gausman toed the rubber in a World Series game for the first time Saturday night.

Gausman, in his fourth campaign with the Blue Jays, saw Toronto’s previous two playoff runs in 2022 and ‘23 end with a sweep in the wild-card round, and last year was a 74–88 dud—seasons he called “heartbreaking” and a “punch in the face,” according to Fox Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal. Well, on Saturday night, Gausman punched back.

The veteran surrendered one run in the first inning on Will Smith’s RBI single before locking in and dominating for much of the night. Gausman didn’t allow a single baserunner until Smith and Max Muncy went yard in the seventh, retiring 17 consecutive batters in that span. In all, Gausman allowed three earned run on four hits with six strikeouts and no walks in 6 2/3 innings—his longest career postseason appearance.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as What We Learned From Dodgers’ Masterful Win Over Blue Jays in Game 2 of World Series.

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