Baseball is unpredictable.
With the Dodgers backs against the wall, they somehow fought back.
Max Muncy hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox, 3-2, in the longest game in World Series history.
Boston still leads the series, two games to one.
Muncy hit took a 90MPH cutter from Nathan Eovaldi to opposite field in left-center to end a marathon game that saw both teams burn all of their position players and pitchers in the over seven-hour affair.
Before that, Eovaldi pitched six innings of relief, allowing no runs, while throwing 98 pitches. Oh yeah, and he pitched in Game 1 and Game 2 in Boston.
Game Three began as a pitcher’s duel between former Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and rookie Walker Buehler.
With Sandy Koufax watching from behind home plate, Buehler, the 24-year-old rookie became just the second youngest Dodgers pitcher in postseason history to have a scoreless start since Johnny Podres threw a complete game shutout in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series at 23 years old.
The Dodgers took the lead in the third inning when Joc Pederson crushed a first pitch changeup from Rick Porcello into the Boston bullpen.
The longball snapped an 0-for-24 slump by Dodgers hitters against the Red Sox dating back to the fourth inning of Game 2.
Porcello would not face Pederson a third time, leaving with two outs in the fifth inning before Joc stepped into the box.
The 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner allowed one run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings.
The story before Game 1 was to All-Star pitchers in Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale. In Game 2 it was all about Cy Young Award winner David Price dominating the Dodgers lineup. Yet in a series that has featured three different Cy Young Award winners and a seven-time All-Star, it was the unassuming rookie with the famous last name that became the first to pitch into the seventh inning.
Against the best team in baseball, on the biggest stage the sport offers, Buehler surrendered just two hits, and retired the last 14 batters he faced as he struck out seven over seven scoreless innings.
If writing his name in Dodgers history wasn’t enough for Buehler, he also joined elite company as he became the second pitcher to have at least seven strikeouts, two or fewer base runners and not allow a run over seven innings since Don larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
After Buehler’s dominant performance, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wanted just one man to pitch the final two innings of the game: All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.
Maybe he should have rethought that decision.
Jackie Bradley Jr. took Jansen deep with two outs in the eighth inning for the game-tying homer.
Bradley Jr.’s homer was the 14th allowed by Jansen during the 2018 season, he had never allowed more than six in any other previous season.
The game would head to extra innings where the Red Sox threatened to take the lead in the top of the 10th.
Pedro Baez walked J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler entered the game to pinch-run for him. After a single by Brock Holt put runners at the corners with out one, Eduardo Nuñez hit a fly ball to centerfield that appeared to be deep enough to score the tying run.
But Cody Bellinger had other ideas as the center fielder threw a cannon to catcher Austin Barnes who tagged out Kinsler just before the plate, keeping the score tied at 1-1.
Both bullpens continued to throw lights out, but with two of the best teams in baseball battling head-to-head, a game with a razor-thin margin of error was bound to come down to one fatal mistake.
Boston took the lead in 13th inning on a bizarre play.
After Bradley Jr.’s home run tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, both teams took turns trading zeroes until the top of the 13th when Brock Holt led off with a walk.
One pitch later, Holt stole second on a ball in the dirt, and he scored on dribbler back to the pitcher that turned into disaster for the Dodgers.
Nuñez, who broke Game 1 open with a three-run homer, hit a little nubber back to reliever Scott Alexander, but first baseman Max Muncy was charging in on the play so second baseman Kiké Hernandez had to hustle to cover first base.
Alexander threw underhand to Hernandez, but he slipped on the base and the ball flew over his head, allowing Holt to score from third and the Red Sox to finally take their first lead of the game, more than five hours after the first pitch had been thrown.
If one mistake made the difference for the Dodgers, it was another mistake that made the difference for Boston.
Muncy stared at 101 MPH fastballs from former Dodger Nathan Eovaldi in the face and managed to work a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 13th inning.
After a flyout from Machado, Bellinger hit a fly ball in foul territory down the third base line that Nuñez dove into the seats to catch. Muncy wisely tagged on the play and found himself in scoring position with two outs.
Yasiel Puig followed with a groundball up the middle that Ian Kinsler backhanded for what appeared to be the final out of the game. But Kinsler’s throw went wide at first base, allowing Muncy to score on the error and tie the game.
Muncy then won it in the bottom of the 18th.
Up Next:
Rich Hill will get the ball in Game 4 with the Red Sox starter still to be determined. First pitch is scheduled for 5:09PM PT.
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