Through six innings of Game 3 of the World Series, the Dodgers were at cruising speed. Walker Buehler, LA’s starter for the evening, had held the Yankees to just two hits and five walks. Their most unreliable starter in an already pretty questionable postseason rotation returned to his old self just when the Dodgers needed him most.

Brusdar Graterol took over in the sixth, after Kiké Hernández scored LA’s fourth run of the night on an RBI single, followed by a two-run homer from an otherworldly Freddie Freeman and an RBI single for Mookie Betts in the top of the third.

Graterol retired two batters, but walked Juan Soto and gave up a single to Giancarlo Stanton, so the Dodgers swapped him with Alex Vesia for a left-left matchup against Jazz Chisholm, who grounded out to end the inning and stop the Yankees’ threat. .

That 1/3 inning was all Vesia would get; he was replaced by Daniel Hudson in the seventh, after which the Dodgers ran into trouble. Anthony Volpe went down swinging, but Anthony Rizzo singled to put a man on base. The Yankees made a change, pinch-hitting Austin Wells for Jose Trevino; Wells was also called for strikes (a borderline call, if you ask angry Yankees fans).

Dave Roberts still opted to head to the bullpen for another matchup: lefty Anthony Banda vs. lefty Alex Verdugo. The former No. 1 Dodgers prospect walked, putting a runner in scoring position for Gleyber Torres, one of the Yankees’ hottest bats of the postseason.

Banda got him to a 2-2 count and then threw a 96 MPH sinker that really didn’t sink. It stayed above the zone, but apparently close enough to the top that home plate umpire Mark Carlson called it strikeout to call Torres, killing any momentum the Yankees were trying to capitalize on.

Dodgers take an impressive 3-0 lead in the World Series over Yankees

With that strikeout on Torres, the Dodgers avoided a bases-loaded or two-runner situation, while Juan Soto accounted for the tying run. There was no way they could have dodged a bigger bullet.

The work Freeman, Betts and Hernández put into the offense proved to be all the Dodgers needed to put this one on the books for LA. The Yankees went down (almost) in order in the bottom of the eighth, with Aaron Judge continuing his hitless streak and instead accepting a free pass to first base.

Michael Kopech took over to close things out, and Verdugo gave the Dodgers a temporary scare with a two-run, two-out homer that turned the Yankees’ lineup. Torres was back as New York’s last man, but he grounded a 100 MPH fastball from Kopech. It was picked up by Tommy Edman, went first to Freeman and there went all the Yankees’ hopes (again).

The Dodgers are just one win away from their eighth World Series title. While fans would love to see it end in LA, this team picking up its first Fall Classic sweep since 2012 would have nothing to complain about.