If you stayed up and watched the entire 7 hour, 20 minute marathon that was Game 3 of the World Series, congratulations! You watched the longest World Series game in history. If you don’t remember—and I can’t blame if you don’t—Rick Porcello and Walker Buehler started the game. Maybe it’s a little more difficult to remember that Porcello pitched in this game because he was taken out after only 61 pitches.
Before then, he gave up a solo shot to Joc Pederson on his 36th pitch:
Pederson wasted no time taking Porcello’s offering, an 81.9 m.p.h. changeup, and depositing it into the Red Sox bullpen to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Meanwhile, Buehler was having a bit of trouble getting the Red Sox to make quick outs; they fouled off 11 pitches in the first inning and made him throw 26 total. By the time the top of the fourth inning ended, Buehler had 68 pitches.
At the time, it didn’t look like his outing would last much longer, even though the Red Sox couldn’t get much going. Buehler ended the fourth with a strikeout of J.D. Martinez, who was caught looking at a 98.6 m.p.h four-seam fastball—which might have been slightly inside— but young Buehler got the call from home-plate umpire Ted Barrett.
Porcello exited with two outs in the bottom of the fifth after getting Buehler to strike out on a bunt attempt:
Porcello was unhappy to leave but Eduardo Rodriguez got Pederson to strike out swinging to strand Yasmani Grandal at first base to end the inning.
After giving up two singles in the third, Buehler retired the last 14 batters he faced. He finished with seven strikeouts, he didn’t walk a batter and the singles were the only hits he surrendered.
He finished wirh this strikeout of Martinez:
What an outing for the 24-year-old rookie, who certainly didn’t pitch like a rookie making his first start in the World Series.
Unfortunately for Buehler, his effort didn’t result in a win because Kenley Jansen, who came into the game in the eighth inning for a six-out save attempt, gave up a game-tying home run to Jackie Bradley Jr. with two outs. (Of course! The Red Sox love hitting with two outs.)
Even though it only tied the score, it felt like the turning point for the Red Sox to start hitting the ball and scoring until they were leading by four runs. Luckily for the Dodgers, that didn’t happen; unaffected by Bradley’s dinger, Jansen came back out and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Cody Bellinger led off with a single and the crowd in Dodger Stadium perked back up. Yasiel Puig flied to right for the first out. With Yasmani Grandal at the plate, Bellinger inexplicably attempted to steal, but got caught in a rundown and tagged out. (Did I mention that David Price was in the game to pitch the bottom of the ninth? I’m sorry, at this point he was the Red Sox’s sixth pitcher and, well, I am glad I didn’t have to keep official score.)
Price walked Grandal, and manager Alex Cora went to Craig Kimbrel to finish the ninth. Kimbrel walked Chris Taylor to put runners on first and second but Brian Dozier popped out to the catcher for the last out.
In the top of the 10th, things got hairy for the Dodgers. New reliever Pedro Baez he walked Martinez with one out and—this is important—Ian Kinsler pinch ran for Martinez. Baez tried a pickoff move and, in real time, it looked like Kinsler was safe getting back to the base. But the Dodgers challenged and the replay showed that Kinsler might have been out—but replay umpires decided they didn’t have enough to reverse the play and Kinsler remained at first.
Brock Holt singled, Kinsler advanced to third and the Red Sox had something going with only one out.
Then this happened:
Eduardo Nunez, who had himself quite a night, hit a fly ball to Cody Bellinger who uncorked a throw home that, at first glance didn’t look like it would get Kinsler, who had tagged up at third. Lo and behold, it did get Kinsler. Turns out that throwing it a bit up the line on the third-base side is a very good way to get a dude out before he can reach the plate.
Could that play to end the inning be a turning point for the Dodgers? Not any time soon. In the bottom of the 10th, Kimbrell didn’t have a lot of trouble. He allowed an automatic double to Max Muncy but Manny Machado popped out to end the inning.
Oh, and this happened in the bottom of the 10th:
Mary Hart was imitating Kimbrel. Mary Hart is a national treasure.
The 11th and 12th innings were uneventful but the same can definitely not be said for the 13th.
In the top of the frame, the Red Sox scored a run thanks to Brock Holt and Nunez. Holt walked and stole second, and Nunez hit a ball to Scott Alexander, who threw the ball away for an error that allowed Holt to score.
Things got a scarier for Dodgers fans after new reliever Dylan Florio intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases for Xander Boagerts—but Boagerts hit a ball about two feet, didn’t move from the box and Austin Barnes tagged him out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 13th, the Dodgers had their own fun. Muncy walked and Machado hit a fly flied out. Bellinger popped out to third Nunez who did his best Derek Jeter falling-backward-into-the-stands-catch impression for the second out. Muncy smartly tagged and advanced to second base. Yasiel Puig grounded to Kinsler, who tripped and rushed his throw, missing first base by about 15 feet. This allowed Muncy to score and tie the score 2-all.
(I did like Joe Buck’s call of that play: “The throw is wide, the game is tied!” What a wordsmith.)
Puig was not awarded second base (after a review to see if the ball went out of bounds) but it didn’t matter because Barnes flied out to end the inning.
The 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th innings were uneventful compared to the 13th inning. Well, not completely. There were a few good pitching performances and the Red Sox tried to get something going against Kenta Maeda in the 15th but they didn’t succeed. And in the bottom of the inning, Muncy missed hitting a walk-off home run by about two feet when his drive went just foul in right. He later struck out against Nathan Eovaldi, who had been slated to start Game 4.
By the time the bottom of the 18th rolled around, the game had entered its seventh hour, the concession stands had reopened but only offered nachos, coffee and ice cream, and Eovaldi was still pitching for the Red Sox. And not only was he still pitching but he was still throwing the ball in the upper 90s.
Muncy stepped in and, after working the count to 3-2, Eovaldi threw the 97th pitch of his outing:
After 7 hours, 20 minutes (or 36 ⅔ dozen minutes in Tom Verducci time) Muncy sent Dodgers fans home happy with an opposite field, walk-off homer to left that kept the Dodgers alive in this series.
Here are some crazy numbers from Game 3:
- Dodgers pitchers threw 278 pitches
- Red Sox pitchers threw 283
- Each team used nine pitchers
- Boston’s 1-through-4 hitters (Betts, Bogaerts, Moreland and Martinez) went 0 for 28
- Muncy’s home run was the Dodgers’ fourth walk-off in World Series history and first since Kirk Gibson’s in 1988
- The Dodgers hit 3,000 popups (OK, it only seemed like it)
So the Dodgers probably won’t be facing Eovaldi on Saturday. If they do, he’s robot and not a real person and it would mean he’d have pitched in all five games, which is ludicrous. As for the Dodgers, their Twitter account announced at 1:27 a.m. PT that their starter for Game 4 is TBD.
Get some rest, everyone. Game 5 starts in a few hours.
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