LOS ANGELES.- With a winning home run by Freddie Freeman, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Monday night in a game that lasted up to 18 innings, equaling the record in a baseball World Series.
The current Major League champions prevailed after almost seven hours of a game ended with Freeman’s home run, which made the stands of Dodger Stadium explode with joy.
The Dodgers went ahead 2-1 on aggregate in the tie and can retain the title if they win the next two games on Tuesday and Wednesday also in front of their home crowd.
Freeman, 36, is the first player to hit two World Series game-winning home runs, after the Grand Slam he hit last year in the first inning against the New York Yankees.
The other World Series game that lasted up to 18 innings occurred in 2018, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox, also with a winning home run.
“This one took a little longer, but the game was incredible… It couldn’t get any better,” said Freeman, one of the Dodgers’ three MVP award winners. “My swing was getting better as the game went on. I’m glad I got another chance.”
In addition to Freeman, the night had other notable figures such as Mexican Alejandro Kirk, who hit a three-run home run for the Blue Jays, and especially Shohei Ohtani, who expanded his collection of baseball records.
The Dodgers superstar was the first player to reach base nine times in a playoff game, including two home runs, two doubles and five walks, four of them intentional.
“The most important thing is that we won and what I accomplished today is in the context of this game,” Ohtani said. “I want to go to sleep as soon as possible so I can prepare.”
The Japanese is scheduled to debut on Tuesday as a pitcher in a Fall Classic.
“This group will be ready to play tomorrow,” said Toronto manager John Schneider. “These guys had the right mentality and state of mind at all times (…). The Dodgers didn’t win the World Series today, they won a game.”
Kirk’s three-run homer
As in the previous two rounds, the Dodgers opened the scoreboard with a solo home run by Dominican Teoscar Hernández in the second inning.
Ohtani intensified the bombing in the third with his first home run of the night.
In the fourth inning it was the visiting figures’ turn to hit and the Mexican Kirk hit a 120-meter hit that allowed him to pass through the register along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.
Marathon
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow allowed another run by Addison Barger after a hit by Venezuelan Andrés Giménez.
Glasnow was pulled after 4.2 innings and Toronto also benched Max Scherzer, who at age 41 became the first pitcher to play in the World Series with four different teams.
Ohtani had a double and a run to tie the score, but the Blue Jays regained the lead thanks to great defensive action and a score by Guerrero Jr.
The joy was short-lived for the Canadians because Ohtani appeared again to light up the stands with his second home run of the night.
The Japanese thus tied the record of eight home runs in the playoffs for the Dodgers that Corey Seager had since 2020.
The clash went into endless extra innings with missed opportunities by both teams and the Dodgers burning arms until they reached their tenth pitcher, Will Klein.
With the record tied at 18 innings, the Dodgers sent Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who only two days earlier had pitched a complete game, to warm up.
The Japanese did not have to go out on the mound thanks to Freeman’s providential home run that ended the battle.
