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With a barrage of home runs and a rookie pitcher turning in a performance for the ages to come, the Toronto Blue Jays took back control of the World Series. Now, they’ll head home on Friday with a golden chance to clinch their first championship in decades. While many have quietly hinted that the Dodgers’ bid for a second straight title is over, one controversial U.S. personality didn’t bother being subtle about it. After the Dodgers’ painful 6-1 loss, American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality Skip Bayless took to X. He declared, “I’m afraid the massively favored Los Angeles Dodgers just lost the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays.” He doubled down on that claim with, “It’s like this team from Toronto has 6 or 7 Kawhis pitching and clutch-hitting for it.” Bayless praised the Blue Jays’ dominant pitching and clutch hitting in game 5 by referencing the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard’s heroics in the 2019 playoffs. It goes back to the 2019 NBA Finals when the Toronto Raptors faced Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors. In that game, Kawhi led the Raptors to victory 4–2, ending Golden State’s three-peat hopes and handing Curry a rare Finals defeat. And let’s say Wednesday’s game was just as historic. It was the first time this season the Blue Jays opened a game with back-to-back home runs. Fueled by back-to-back homers from Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the game, Trey Yesavage continued his impressive rookie run with a dominant outing as the Blue Jays rolled past the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports It was also the first time this season the Dodgers began a game by giving up back-to-back home runs. And it also marked the first time in Blake Snell’s career that he’s allowed homers to the first two batters he faced. Dodgers’ Blake Snell blamed “luck” for the meltdown You read that right. Blake Snell felt “bad luck” played just as big a role in his Game 5 struggles as the Toronto Blue Jays did. “Luck plays a part in baseball, too,” he said afterward. Apparently, the two-time Cy Young winner gave up two home runs on his first three pitches and stumbled again late in the game. As the Dodgers fell 6–1 on Wednesday night, the loss pushed the defending champions to the edge of elimination. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, are now leading the series 3–2. They’re only one win away from clinching the title at home in Game 6 on Friday. Blake Snell gave up back-to-back home runs to Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.—the first time in World Series history that a game started with consecutive leadoff homers. All three of his opening pitches were fastballs. And after that rough start, his next 22 pitches were offspeed. “First pitch of the game, 97 mph fastball up and in, he hits it 98, it goes out. Pretty unlucky. Vlad, yeah, that’s just a bad pitch.” Snell said of Schneider. The Dodgers star said he didn’t believe he was tipping his pitches or giving away any hints about what was coming. Snell bounced back after the rough start but ran into trouble again in the fourth inning. He gave up a leadoff triple to Daulton Varsho on a softly hit ball that left the bat at just 75.6 mph. “I’m not one to make excuses or anything close to that, but that’s pretty unlucky,” he said. Still, the sellout crowd of 52,175 rose to their feet to applaud his effort.
