LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Dodgers hold a two games to one lead in the World Series Tuesday as Freddie Freeman homered in the bottom of the 18th inning in a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium.
Monday’s game tied the record for the longest World Series game by innings, which was Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, where the Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox, 3-2, in 18 innings on Oct. 26, 2018.
It was the second longest by time, six hours, 39 minutes, ending at 11:50 p.m. Only Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, was longer, seven hours, 20 minutes.
Shohei Ohtani became the first player since 1906 to have four extra- base hits in a World Series game with two solo home runs and two doubles. Frank Isbell had four doubles in the Chicago White Sox 8-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the 1906 World Series.
Ohtani set a World Series record by reaching base nine times, walking five times, including a World Series-record four intentional walks. He was 4- for-4 with 3 RBIs and scored three runs.
Monday’s game was the first in a World Series where each team had at least 15 hits, with the Dodgers having 16 and the Blue Jays 15.
Toronto left 19 runners on base, breaking the previous record of 15, accomplished six times, most recently by both the Houston Astros and White Sox in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.
The Dodgers left 18 runners on base with the combined 37 for the teams also a record, topping the previous record of 30 set in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.
The Dodgers used a record 10 pitchers, topping the previous record of nine set by the White Sox in Game 3 of the 2005 Series and matched three times since, including by the Dodgers in Game 2 of the 2017 Series and Game 3 of the 2018 Series.
The combined 19 pitchers by both teams was also a record, topping the previous record of 18 set by the Dodgers and Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 Series.
Rookie right-hander Will Klein (1-0), the final Dodger pitcher, was credited with the victory, pitching four shutout innings, allowing one hit, striking out five and walking two.
Left-hander Brenton Little, the last Blue Jays pitcher, was charged with the loss, allowing one run on two hits, with one strikeout and one walk in one inning.
The Dodgers opened the scoring in the second when Teoscar Hernández hit a 2-2 slider from future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer into the left field bullpen for a solo home run in front of a sell-out crowd announced at 52,654.
The Dodgers added a run in the third as Ohtani hit a 1-2 four-seam fastball from Scherzer 389 feet over the short fence in right field for his seventh home run of the 2025 postseason.
Alejandro Kirk hit a three-run home run for Toronto in the fourth off Tyler Glasnow, driving in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who walked on a full count, and Bo Bichette, whose ground ball rolled under the glove of Tommy Edman, the Dodger second baseman, for an error.
The Blue Jays increased their lead to 4-2 later in the fifth. Addison Barger followed Kirk’s home run with a single, moved to third on Ernie Clement’s single and scored on Andrés Giménez’s sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth. Kiké Hernández led off with a single. The 41-year-old Scherzer, the sixth-oldest player in Major League Baseball in 2025, retired Andy Pages on a fly out to Barger, Toronto’s right fielder, on his 79th pitch.
Manager John Schneider opted to relieve Scherzer with rookie left- hander Mason Fluhaty, who allowed a double to Ohtani on a full-count sweeper. Freddie Freeman singled one out later, driving in Ohtani, tying the score, 4-4.
The Blue Jays regained the lead in the seventh. Guerrero singled with two outs and from first on a single by Bo Bichette, touching home plate with his right hand to beat the tag by Will Smith, the Dodgers’ catcher.
Ohtani hit a four-seam fastball from Seranthony Dominguez 401 feet over the center fence for a solo homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh, tying the score, 5-5.
Ohtani will make his World Series pitching debut in Game 4 Tuesday facing fellow right-hander Shane Bieber, a 2013 graduate of Laguna Hills High School and the 2020 American League Cy Young Award winner.
Ohtani did not pitch in the 2024 World Series as he recovered from a procedure to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow performed on Sep. 19, 2023.
The game is set to begin at 5:10 p.m. will be televised on Fox, broadcast in English by KLAC-AM (570) and in Spanish by KTNQ-AM (1020).
Of the previous 63 World Series tied at one game a piece, the team winning Game 3 has gone on to win the World Series 42 times, 66.7%.
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