Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eighteen innings in Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium again. And this Hollywood rerun had a similar ending. Freddie Freeman homered leading off the bottom of the 18th, Shohei Ohtani went deep twice during another record-setting performance and the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in an instant classic Monday night. The defending champion Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup and still have a chance to win the title at home — something they haven’t done since 1963. “That could go down as one of the greatest games of all time,” manager Dave Roberts said. Freeman drove left-hander Brendon Little’s full-count sinker 406 feet to straightaway center field, finally ending a baseball marathon that lasted 6 hours, 39 minutes, and matched the longest by innings in postseason history. “Oh gosh, just pure excitement,” he said. “That’s as good as it gets.” The only other World Series contest to go 18 innings was Game 3 at Dodger Stadium seven years ago. Freeman’s teammate, Max Muncy, won that one for Los Angeles with an 18th-inning homer against the Boston Red Sox in a game that took 7 hours, 20 minutes. It was Freeman’s second World Series walk-off homer in two years. The star first baseman hit the first game-ending grand slam in Series history to win Game 1 in 10 innings last season against the New York Yankees. “This one took a little longer,” Freeman said. “But this game was incredible. Our bullpen was absolutely incredible.” Will Klein, the last reliever left for the Dodgers, got the biggest win of his career. He allowed one hit over four shutout innings and threw 72 pitches — twice as many as his previous high in the majors. “We weren’t losing that game,” Klein said, “and so I had to keep going back out there.” A total of 19 pitchers — 10 for the Dodgers — combined to throw 609 pitches in a game that ended at 11:50 p.m. on the West Coast. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw came out of the LA bullpen to escape a bases-loaded jam in the 12th, pitching in extra innings for the first time in his illustrious career. “The Dodgers didn’t win a World Series today,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider cautioned. “They won a game.” As the hours crept by, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. munched on an apple at the dugout railing. A staffer brought a fruit tray onto the bench and the Toronto slugger helped himself to another piece. “We tried. We did everything we could. They did the same thing,” Guerrero said through a translator. “But in the end, they came away with the victory.” Most fans in the crowd of 52,654 who stuck around were on their feet throughout, including 89-year-old Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who sat down only between innings.
