LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers flailed on offense for much of a 6-1 loss that put them on the brink with a 3-2 World Series deficit to the Toronto Blue Jays. After a historic 18-inning win over the Jays on Monday to grab a series lead, the Dodgers totaled only three runs in losses Tuesday and Wednesday.

Slumps are never welcome but especially not when a team is so close to a second straight World Series crown.

“We’re not really doing much as an offense, and whenever we get a chance, we don’t capitalize,” the Dodgers’ Enrique Hernandez said. “We’re going through one of those funks right now. It is just really bad timing to have those in the World Series.”

The Dodgers are hitting .201 against the Blue Jays over five games and just .200, without an extra-base hit, with runners in scoring position.

“It’s been hard for us the last two days,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “But we’ve been in this situation before.”

It was an overall lackluster performance for the defending champs in a pivotal game. The defense failed to convert a couple of key double-play opportunities early. The Blue Jays ambushed starter Blake Snell from the outset, homering twice in Snell’s first three pitches and becoming the first team to start a World Series game with back-to-back blasts. The Dodgers set a World Series record by uncorking four wild pitches, two from Snell and one each from relievers Edgardo Henriquez and Anthony Banda.

In other words, it’s not the kind of response you’d expect from a team that won the title a year ago and entered the series against Toronto 9-1 in the postseason.

“Everyone’s got to do their job,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re at elimination, and we’ve got to kind of wipe the slate clean and find a way to win Game 6. Pick up the pieces and see where we’re at.”

The Blue Jays have mostly dominated the stars of the L.A. lineup, save for Shohei Ohtani’s bigGame3,whenhehomered twice and reached base nine times over the marathon contest. That continued Wednesday despite Roberts’ reshuffled lineup: The first four hitters -- Ohtani, Will Smith, Mookie Betts and Freeman -- went a combined 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts.

With the Blue Jays averaging nearly six runs a game in the series, something has to change, even with Yoshinobu Yamamoto going for L.A. in Game 6 on Friday in Toronto. Of course, the veteran Dodgers have seen it all and remain nowhere near panic mode. But they know they can’t put it all on Yamamoto’s shoulders.

Last season, the Dodgers trailed the Padres 2-1 in the best-of-five division series and rallied to win en route to a World Series victory, something Freeman alluded to as a recent of example of the Dodgers meeting the challenge facing them now. But to win two, first you have to win one.

“There’s a fight in there,” Roberts said. “We’ve won two games in a row [before]. But again, it just comes down to one game. We have been in a lot of elimination games, and we found a way to get to the other side.”

Game 6 of the series will be played in Toronto tonight starting at 7 p.m.

The game will be televised on FOX.