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Los Angeles — Exhausting and then exhilarating for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Max Muncy's home run leading off the bottom of the 18th inning finally ended the longest World Series game in history early Saturday and gave Los Angeles a 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox that drew the Dodgers to 2-1 in the best-of-seven matchup.
Game 4 on Saturday night ended too late for this edition.
“You'd look up and see 18th inning and like, holy cow,” Muncy said. “There was no give up.”
While the Dodgers mobbed Muncy at home plate, the Red Sox will rue one that got away.
They were oh-so-close in the 13th to taking a huge 3-0 lead. But second baseman Ian Kinsler's wide throw on a two-out grounder by Yasiel Puig let Los Angeles score the tying run in a game that lasted 7 hours, 20 minutes.
“It was just a bad night,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We had some situations that we could have put them away and then we didn't. And at the end we paid the price.”
Muncy homered to left-center off Nathan Eovaldi, jolting the remaining fans to their feet at 12:30 a.m. A grinning Muncy tossed his helmet in the air as he headed for third.
Recalling Kirk Gibson's winning pinch-hit homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Muncy came within feet of ending it in the bottom of the 15th. But his shot to right sailed just foul and he ended up striking out.
“I really thought I had it,” Muncy said. “That was kind of defeating at that point, but I was able to get back and get another shot.”
The battle of attrition had a bit of everything, including 18 pitchers and 27 position players. Never before had a Series game gone more than 14 innings.
“Parts of three games, I think,”
Jake Fromm threw three touchdown passes, ending speculation about freshman Justin Fields supplanting him, and Georgia beat Florida. The Bulldogs took advantage of Florida’s three turnovers and an injury to cornerback C.J. Henderson to win the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” for the second straight year. Fromm completed 17 of 24 passes for 240 yards, none bigger than the three for scores — all on third down. The first two went to Jeremiah Holloman, who beat C.J. McWilliams both times. The Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 SEC) clearly were picking on McWilliams after he replaced Henderson (back) on the first series. Florida (6-2, 4-2) took a one-point lead early in the third quarter — Feleipe Franks threw a perfect, 36-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Swain — but Georgia answered with another Fromm-to-Holloman connection and then pulled away late.
Kyler Murray passed for 352 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score to help Oklahoma beat Kansas State. The Sooners (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) rolled up a season-high 702 total yards and only punted once, and that was in the fourth quarter after Murray was done for the day. CeeDee Lamb caught four passes for a career-high 160 yards and two touchdowns, and Kennedy Brooks ran for 94 yards and two scores. The Sooners won their second straight since losing to Texas. Oklahoma held Kansas State (3-4, 1-4) to 245 yards. Alex Barnes, who entered the game as the Big 12’s leading rusher, was limited to 28 yards on 13 carries.
Terry Wilson threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Conrad on the final play to lift Kentucky past Missouri. Kentucky took over on its own 19 with 1:24 left. With 4 seconds left, Wilson threw toward Ahmad Wagner in the back left corner of the end zone. Wagner caught the ball out of bounds, but Missouri cornerback DeMarkus Acy was called for pass interference, giving Kentucky an untimed down that it turned into the winning score. Lynn Bowden Jr. returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown with 5:18 left to pull the Wildcats (7-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) to 14-9. Kentucky held Missouri (4-4, 0-4) without a first down on eight second-half possessions.
Gardner Minshew completed his first 19 passes of the second half and drove No. 14 Washington State to a 42-yard field goal by Blake Mazza with 19 seconds remaining to put the Cougars in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 North with a victory over No. 24 Stanford. Minshew completed 40 of 50 passes for 438 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cougars (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) to their third straight win over the Cardinal (5-3, 3-2). This victory follows last week’s over thenNo. 12 Oregon, giving Washington State back-to-back wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2002. Minshew engineered the winning drive in the final 1:25 with the big play coming on a 35-yard pass to Jamire Calvin on thirdand-2 from the 33. Minshew completed one more pass to move the ball to the 25 and after two incomplete passes, Mazza made his kick to win it. Linebacker Evan Weaver scored on a 36-yard interception return in the third quarter after Washington made a change at quarterback, and California overcome a sluggish day offensively to beat the No. 15 Huskies. The Golden Bears (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) had only 245 yards and were limited to two field goals, but Weaver and the defense repeatedly bailed out the struggling offense while dealing a serious blow to Washington’s hopes of a second Pac-12 title in three seasons. The Huskies (6-3, 4-2) entered the day with a half-game lead over No. 14 Washington State and No. 24 Stanford but fell to second place despite not allowing an offensive touchdown. Washington starting quarterback Jake Browning threw his 90th career touchdown pass in the first quarter but was benched late in the third after the Huskies went three-and-out on their second drive of the second half. Redshirt freshman Jake Haener replaced Browning and threw an incompletion on his first pass before Weaver picked off the pass on a third-and-8 play.
Nick Fitzgerald threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores to lead Mississippi State over Texas A&M. Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3 SEC) won thanks to an unexpected boost from its passing game, which was among the least productive in the SEC coming into the night. One week after throwing four interceptions in a miserable loss to LSU, Fitzgerald completed 14 of 22 passes, including several big gains that swung the game in favor of the Bulldogs. The biggest might have been a 84-yard strike to Stephen Guidry on third-and-21 that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Fitzgerald and gave the Bulldogs a 21-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State’s defense was able to take it from there, and Erroll Thompson’s interception in the end zone with 2:36 remaining — along with Fitzgerald’s 76yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive — sealed the victory. A&M (5-3, 3-2) had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Nick Scott intercepted a pass to thwart Iowa at the Penn State 2 with 3:18 left and the Nittany Lions held on to avoid a third straight home loss. Penn State (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) needed one last defensive stand to hold off Iowa (6-2, 3-2), which got to the Nittany Lions 44 with less than a minute left. On fourth-and-10 with 7 seconds left, Penn State’s pass rush swarmed Nate Stanley, who flipped backward to offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs. The 300-pounder rumbled 15 yards before being dragged down with no time left. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was a must-win for us. Our guys just persevered.”
Long after rookie Walker Buehler dazzled over seven shutout innings for the Dodgers, things got interesting.
The Red Sox tied it 1-all in the eighth on a homer by Jackie Bradley Jr. and took a 2-1 lead in the 13th.
The Dodgers answered with the tying run in the bottom of the inning.
After Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger made the throw of his life in the 10th, both teams scored on bizarre errors in the 13th.
Cora used starter David Price in relief, rotated his outfielders in the middle of innings and even put catcher Christian Vazquez at first base for the first time in his big league career.
Out of position players, Roberts called on ace Clayton Kershaw to pinch-hit in the 17th. He flied out. The stadium organist was busy, too, launching into “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the 14th inning — a second version of the seventh-inning stretch. Not many had left by then.
The crowd cheered when the stadium clock reached midnight.
“What a ballgame. What a marathon,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. “Unbelievable fight from our club.”
“I think my beard got about 3 inches longer.”
Game 4 is later Saturday at Dodger Stadium. Eovaldi had been scheduled to start for the Red Sox, but he threw 97 pitches in relief as one of nine pitchers they used. Left-hander Rich Hill starts for the Dodgers.
The Red Sox had a wild 13th, with a walk, a steal, an infield hit and an error before taking a 2-1 lead.
Brock Holt drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez got flipped on his back by catcher Austin Barnes as he chased Scott Alexander’s wild pitch.
Nunez then reached on a nubber to the right side and Alexander botched the throw to first, allowing Holt to score. Nunez got knocked on his back again in the play at first, but stayed in the game since the Boston had no one left on its bench.