It took 18 innings -- seven hours and 20 minutes -- for the Los Angeles Dodgers to claw their way back into the 2018 World Series with a 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
The teams combined to use 46 players, 27 position players and 19 pitchers -- if you count Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw's pinch-hit at-bat.
Max Muncy brought the proceedings to a close with a walkoff home run off Red Sox reliever Nathan Eovaldi, who came on in the 12th inning and threw 97 pitches -- compared to the 61 of Red Sox starter Rick Porcello.
In the immediate aftermath, Red Sox manager Alex Cora couldn't say who he'd be sending to the mound in game four on Saturday, when he'd planned to have Eovaldi as his starter.
"How do you spell that, "TBA"? TBA," Cora quipped.
The game surpassed the San Francisco Giants' six-hour, 23-minute victory over the Washington Nationals in the 2014 National League Division Series as the longest in Major League post-season history.
The longest prior World Series game was five hours and 41 minutes -- the Chicago White Sox's 14-inning win over the Houston Astros in game three in 2005.
"To be honest, as the game kept going, you look up and see the 18th inning and you're like, holy cow, where did the game go?
"Those last nine innings or so just kind of blended together."
By the end of the contest -- at 12:30 a.m. Saturday -- the record-setting exploits of the Dodgers' starting pitcher Walker Buehler were a fading memory.
The 24-year-old rookie right-hander needed 26 pitches to retire the first three batters he faced -- the most thrown in a 1-2-3 inning in post-season history.
He became the youngest Dodgers pitcher to throw six or more scoreless innings in a World Series game since Johnny Podres in 1955.
The rookie right-hander joined Roger Clemens (game two, 2000) and Don Larsen (game five, 1956) as the only pitchers to throw seven or more scoreless innings while allowing two or fewer hits in a World Series game.
Buehler threw 108 pitches, 72 of them for strikes. He struck out seven and walked one, retiring his last 14 batters after surrendering two hits in the third inning.
And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was able to keep game four starter Rich Hill in reserve along with Ryu Hyun-Jin, thought his pitching staff was in good shape heading into Saturday.
"Considering what we went through tonight, we're in good shape with our pen, we really are," Roberts said. "Obviously Rich is going to have to come out there and get some outs.
"Considering where we're at, down 2-1, home crowd behind us, I think there's a little bit of momentum on our side."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
