Goin' south in Great White North

Dodgers' shaky 'pen exposed as Jays open Series with 11-4 romp

- JACK HARRIS

BLAKE SNELL struggled with fastball command and exited after five innings. Said the Dodgers' ace: "Just a tough game."

The Dodgers might be baseball's version of an all-powerful Death Star.

But as the raucous World Series opener in Toronto showed, they too were built with a fatally exploitable weakness.

Behind a nine-run sixth inning that left Rogers Centre rocking and the previously invincible Dodgers rattled, the Blue Jays smashed open what had been a tied score in Game 1 of the World Series and rolled to an eventual 11-4 win on Friday.

They attacked the Dodgers' one glaring weakness in the bullpen. They executed the kind of game script to which the defending champions have long seemed susceptible.

And they watched in delight as their visitors were blown to bits, suffering an implosion of galactic proportions in what was the third-highest scoring inning in Fall Classic history.

"Honestly," Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho said, "we just showed everybody what we can do as a lineup."

Or, more to the point in this Fall Classic matchup, how they can get to the Dodgers' rotation-reliant pitching staff.

Even though the Dodgers took an early lead in Game 1, scoring twice in the first three innings against rookie Blue Jays sensation Trey Yesavage, Toronto was methodical in executing its game plan against Dodgers ace Blake Snell.

They kept him under constant stress, starting with a 29-pitch first inning in which they left the bases loaded but drove up his pitch count.