OH, WHAT A NIGHT
Muncy’s homer in the 18th inning ended baseball’s longest World Series game
The joyous throng gathered around home plate at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, seven hours and 20 minutes after a monstrosity of a baseball game had begun.
Never before had a World Series game lasted as long. Never before had a playoff game lasted as long.
Never before had the Dodgers experienced a victory quite like their 3-2 walk-off over the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series, 18 innings of agony that ended with sweet relief when Max Muncy launched a solo home run.
“The feeling was pure joy and excitement,” Muncy said. “That’s about all I can think of, because it’s hard to describe how good a feeling it is.”
The Dodgers crowded the plate as Muncy rounded the bases. Dodger Stadium teetered with delirium. Muncy disappeared inside the throng, having taken Boston pitcher Nathan Eovaldi deep and perhaps tilted the balance of the series. The cost of Boston’s pitching decisions may last beyond the marathon.
Eovaldi had been listed as Boston’s starter for Game 4. Instead, he pitched six innings, logging 97 pitches and effectively wiping himself out of consideration for the next two games at Dodger Stadium.
The particulars of Game 3 boggle the mind. The teams combined to throw 561 pitches. There were almost twice as many strikeouts (34) than hits (18). Muncy ended the game in his eighth plate appearance. In his previous at-bat, he nearly ended the game by hooking a ball just foul down the right-field line.
“My goodness,” infielder David Freese said. “I don’t even know what happened tonight. Man. How do you pull a walk-off homer barely foul and then go oppo tank next AB? That’s incredible.”
The postgame celebration was far from raucous. The players were too tired to gloat. Around the 15th inning, the team’s chef distributed peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches. The Dodgers built a shrine composed of bananas and paper cups, with infielder Brian Dozier pouring sunflower seeds as an offering to the baseball gods.
Clayton Kershaw appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 17th. He lined out in one of the better at-bats by a Dodger in the late hours.
“As the game kept going, you look up and see the 18th inning, and you’re like ‘Holy cow, where did the game go?’ ” Muncy said. “Those last nine innings or so just kind of blended together.”
A series of excruciating outcomes sent the game into extra innings. A symbol of urgency rose midway through the seventh inning, as the Dodgers clung to a onerun lead against baseball’s best offense.
Kenley Jansen had logged only a pair of two-inning appearances all season, but the time for caution had passed. Needing a victory to stall Boston’s momentum, Roberts turned to his closer.
After seven scoreless innings from rookie ace Walker Buehler, it was up to Jansen to slam the door. He could not. He served up a tying solo home run to Jackie Bradley Jr. on a 2-0 cutter with two out in the eighth.
Jansen returned for a scoreless ninth, but his mistake ruined a gorgeous outing from Buehler, who struck out seven and permitted two hits.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers squandered an opportunity. One day removed from an 88pitch start in Game 2, Boston’s David Price loped into the game.
He gave up a leadoff single to Cody Bellinger. Trying to put himself in scoring position, Bellinger got picked off, moments before Yasmani Grandal took a walk. Cora turned to closer Craig Kimbrel, who walked Chris Taylor but got pinch-hitter Dozier to pop up and strand the runners.
Bellinger atoned for his goof in the 10th. Pedro Baez issued a leadoff walk to Boston’s J.D. Martinez, who was replaced by pinch-runner Ian Kinsler. Kinsler scurried to third on a single by Brock Holt. When Eduardo Nunez flied out to center field, Bellinger settled beneath the baseball and let fly. The throw pulled catcher Austin Barnes up the third base line, but arrived in time for Barnes to apply an inning-ending tag.
Left-hander Scott Alexander entered the game in the 12th, and returned for the 13th. He permitted a leadoff walk to Holt, who stole second. Nunez hit a chopper that Alexander fielded, but second baseman Enrique Hernandez was late to cover first and failed to corral the throw as the Holt scored
and the deadlock disappeared.
The Dodgers matched the run with a ridiculous flourish of their own. Muncy took a leadoff walk against Eovaldi and advanced to second when third baseman Nunez crashed into the stands securing a foul popup. Yasiel Puig hit a grounder to the right side for what could have been the final out, but Kinsler lost his footing as he threw to first. The throw skipped away and Muncy scored.
The presence of Red Sox starter Rick Porcello, a right-hander, caused Roberts to start left-handed hitters like Pederson and Bellinger. Both rode the bench during the first two games in Boston, with the Red Sox using left-handed starters. Roberts insisted before the game he did not regret his lineup choices at Fenway Park.
“I don’t second-guess that,” Roberts said. “This is what we’ve done all year.”
The Dodgers entered the third inning searching for their first hit since the fourth inning of Game 2. They were in the midst of an 0for-24 slump when Porcello left a changeup over the middle and Pederson hammered a solo shot into the Red Sox bullpen near the right-field pole.
After the first inning, Buehler managed to be more efficient. He finished the fourth inning with 68 pitches on his docket.
Porcello departed in the fifth. Grandal led off with a single. Porcello picked up the next two outs before Boston manager Alex Cora intervened.
Into the game came Eduardo Rodriguez, a left-hander. Pederson battled Rodriguez for six pitches before striking out.
Betts became the 11th batter set down in a row by Buehler when he took a 98-mph fastball to end the top of the sixth. The inning left Buehler at 93 pitches, with the Dodgers nine outs from victory. Roberts decided Buehler would get three, then Jansen scoop up the final six.
The offense stayed quiet through the sixth. The only fireworks emerged from Manny Machado, who smashed a hanging curve from Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly. Machado chose to admire his blast, rather than run. The decision looked foolish when the baseball hit the wall. Machado settled for a single and advanced no farther.
After Xander Bogaerts flied out to start the seventh, Buehler picked apart Mitch Moreland with fastballs and a changeup. Martinez failed to catch up on a 2-2, 98-mph fastball at his belt.
“I don’t know what to say about the guy,” Freese said of Buehler. “He’s a bulldog.”
Buehler reacted with calm as he stomped off the mound. Then he heard the noise, the chants of his name lost inside the maelstrom. He waved his arms upward, just once, an exhortation to raise the volume. The crowd obliged.
Seated just behind the plate was a man who could relate to Buehler’s evening. As Buehler left the diamond, Sandy Koufax rose from his seat to applaud.
He stayed in his seat when Bradley went deep in the eighth, and the game careened into extra innings.
In the aftermath, Hernandez referenced the heartbreak of Game 5 from last year’s World Series.
“We’ve played two of the most memorable games in World Series in back-to-back years,” Hernandez said. “I’m just glad that we haven’t come out on the losing end in both of them. It was a hell of a baseball game.”