Dodgers prevail on homer by Freeman in 18th to end 'one of greatest' games

In the twilight hours of the early evening, before one of baseball's most remarkable nights transformed from relatively normal to patently absurd, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought he knew where Game 3 of the World Series was heading.

- BY JACK HARRIS

ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times CLAYTON KERSHAW inherited bases loaded in the 12th inning but got out of it on a groundout.

"Ultimately," he said during an in-game interview with the Fox television broadcast, "it's gonna be a battle of the bullpens tonight."

Turned out, it would escalate into an 18-inning war.

In a game that tested mental mettle, physical stamina, emotional composure and the most extreme limits of both teams' bullpens, the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays tied a record for the longest World Series game ever played on Monday night.

Eighteen innings, in 6 hours and 39 minutes, featuring a never-ending marathon of unfathomable plot twists and narrative-shaping turns.

"One of the greatest World Series games of all time," Roberts said.

"I think we're all emotionally and mentally drained," first baseman Freddie Freeman added.

In the end, it was Freeman who walked it off, hitting a home run in the bottom of the 18th inning - 11 innings removed from the game's previously scored run - to finally break the deadlock and lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

But unlike last year, when Freeman hit his iconic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series, Monday night's swing brought more relief than exaltation.

As Freeman said himself afterward, there were bigger heroes behind this grueling Dodgers win.

"It took every single guy tonight," Freeman said. "I think that just shows you who we are as a group." Between the two teams, the game featured 19 pitchers, 24 position players, 609 pitches thrown and 153 trips to the plate.

There were sudden shifts and crazy bounces, such as when a down-the-line single from Bo Bichette in the seventh ricocheted off a sound technician along the elbow of the wall in foul territory to help the Blue Jays score a go-ahead run.