ARLINGTON, Texas — First, it was Dylan Floro. And then Alex Wood, Pedro Báez, Victor González, Brusdar Graterol and finally, Julio Urías.
The Los Angeles Dodgers relied on their bullpen in a World Series-clinching 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 on Tuesday night. Floro, Wood, Báez, González, Graterol, and Urías combined for 7 1/3 innings of two-hit ball after Tony Gonsolin was pulled in the second.
“Those guys won us that game,” catcher Austin Barnes said.
Gonsolin allowed Randy Arozarena's homer in the first and departed with runners on first and second. Floro came in and struck out Arozarena, ending the inning.
Wood pitched two innings before Báez got two outs. González entered with Arozarena on first and retired Austin Meadows on a grounder to second, ending the fifth.
After González struck out the side in the sixth, Graterol got two outs and Urías finished for the save. The 24-year-old Urias went 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA in six postseason appearances, including two starts.
Corey Seager hit a rare October double, becoming Most Valuable Player of the World Series after earning the honor for the League Championship Series.
Just as Orel Hershiser did when the Los Angeles Dodgers won their previous World Series title in 1988.
Seager batted .400 with two homers, five RBIs, and six walks against the Tampa Bay Rays, including a sixth-inning grounder that allowed Mookie Betts to speed home from third base with the go-ahead run Tuesday night in Game 6. The star shortstop jumped into the arms of second baseman Kiké Hernández after Julio Urías struck out Willy Adames to end a 3-1 victory that clinched the championship.
“To be able to win and to be able to do it with a team like this, it means everything,” Seager said.
Especially after losing Game 7 to Houston three years ago and missing the entire 2018 postseason while injured.
“It hurt, obviously,” he said. “This core has been around for a couple of years now, and to know what it feels like to lose and to be able to rebuild and come back and stay focused and to be able to finish it, it’s special.”
Seager hit .310 with five homers and 11 RBIs in the seven-game win over Atlanta in the NL Championship Series, including three homers as the Dodgers fought off elimination in Games 5 and 6. He drove in runs in five consecutive plate appearances, starting with his last two at-bats in Game 2, matching a feat that had been accomplished only by Houston’s Carlos Beltrán in 2004.
Mookie Betts was a difference-maker for the Dodgers in his first season in Los Angeles. The speedy outfielder bolted from third for the go-ahead run on Corey Seager’s infield grounder in the sixth and led off the eighth with a punctuating homer. This is Betts’ second World Series title. He starred for the Boston Red Sox when they beat the Dodgers for the title in 2018.
It has been quite a month for Los Angeles. The Lakers won the NBA title on Oct. 11.
Los Angeles is the first city in the history of the four major North American sports to win two championships in the same calendar month, according to STATS.
When Tampa Bay's Randy Arozarena extended his record with his 10th postseason homer in Game 6, it marked the fifth straight Series game with at least one run in the top of the first.
That's a record, breaking the previous mark of four in the 1932 World Series. That sweep by the New York Yankees of the Chicago Cubs featured Babe Ruth's called shot on a home run.
Of the previous four in this Series, the team that scored in the top of the first went on to win three times. The exception was Tampa Bay's 8-7 win in Game 4 when the Rays scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a crazy sequence triggered by Brett Phillips' RBI single. Arozarena scored the winning run on an error by catcher Will Smith.
There were plenty of questions for players from both teams about what they did on the final off day of the season, what the discussions were like and whether they got their mind off baseball before Game 6.
The answer was easy for Dodgers second baseman Kiké Hernández.
“That we hope the roof is closed because it’s freezing,” Hernández said.
Indeed, temperatures barely reached 40 Tuesday, a third consecutive day of misty conditions with intermittent rain and drizzle in the Dallas alot.”