MLB
World Series: Dodgers Win In 18 Inning Longest Postseason Game Ever!
Last night, the Dodgers won World Series Game 3 in 18 innings, the longest postseason game ever! To be exact, the game last 7 hours and 20 minutes. End time was past midnight in Los Angeles and past 3 am in Boston. A lot can happen over 18 innings, but let’s look at the highlights.
Buehler’s Days Off Did Him Well
Rookie phenom Walker Buehler’s days off did him well. After a 26 pitch first inning, Walker got in his groove to pitch absolutely beautifully and quite frankly dominated a Boston lineup that has seemed relentless to anyone they face. In seven scoreless innings, Buehler only gave up 2 hits and had 7 strikeouts with 108 pitches. Dave Roberts had some words of high praise about the young stud:
“I think that certain people can handle a moment like this and understand what was at stake tonight,” Roberts said. “And we needed his best effort. And we needed him to go deeper than their starter, log some innings. And some guys run from it. Some guys can’t answer the bell. But this guy, he’s got an overt confidence, a quiet confidence, a little combo. But he’s got tremendous stuff. And he lives for moments like this.”
Offense
Beginning
Offensively, the Dodgers struck first when Joc Pederson drilled a homer into the right-field bleachers. He did so in the bottom of the third with two outs to make the score 1-0. Then, in the top of the eighth, Kenley Jansen gave up a solo shot to Jackie Bradley, Jr to tie the game. That was the first run Jansen has given up all postseason.
Middle
Fast forward to the top of the thirteenth. Holt drew a leadoff walk and then went to second on a ball in the dirt. Nuñez then found a hole to the right of the mound and drew a bad throw, so Holt hustled home to put the go-ahead run on the board 2-1. The Red Sox had some more opportunities to score in the thirteenth, but Dylan Floro got the Dodgers out of the inning.
Max Muncy drew a walk off of Nathan Eovaldi to leadoff the thirteenth. After a long out and a pop-up that sent Nuñez into the stands, with Muncy now on second, Puig grounded up the middle to Kinsler. Kinsler slipped on the grass as he was throwing to first so the throw was wide. Muncy then rounded third and scored while Puig was safe at first. The game was tied again at 2-2. Austin Barnes then ended the inning by popping up.
End
Fast forward to the fifteenth, where Max Muncy led-off and absolutely stroked the ball down the rightfield line that just missed being a homer by hooking a few feet foul, he struck out on the next pitch. Muncy, however, wasn’t satisfied with that outcome. When we fast forward to the eighteenth inning, that’s right eighteenth, it was once again Max Muncy at the plate. This time, Muncy’s Mash didn’t hook and it cleared the right-field fence for a walk-off home run! Muncy joins Kirk Gibson and Justin Turner as the only Dodgers who have had walk-off homers in the World Series.
Boston now leads the series 2-1, with a game tonight!
Photo Credit Ben W. via Flickr
