Max Muncy slammed an 18th-inning walk-off solo home run on Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Boston Red Sox 3-2 in a tension-packed marathon that entered the record books as the longest World Series game ever.
After two losses in chilly Boston battling Fenway Park’s quirky features, the Dodgers were back home in warmer, friendlier surroundings trimming the Red Sox lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1.
However, the Dodgers, chasing their first World Series title in 30 years, needed a record 18 innings and a record seven hours, 20 minutes to avoid being pushed into a 0-3 series hole from which only one team — the 2004 Red Sox in the American League Championship Series — have ever escaped.
Photo: AFP
As Muncy’s towering shot off Boston reliever Nathan Eovaldi sailed into the left field bleachers, the capacity crowd let out a mighty roar, but the Dodgers were to have little time to savor the hard-fought victory with Game 4 set for yesterday.
“I just wanted to have another good at-bat,” said Muncy, who had a pair of hits and scored twice. “I felt really good after the first two at-bats.”
“He pitched the lights out,” Muncy added. “But I was feeling good about my at-bats. He kind of went the same sequence he did the last at-bat, tried to go backdoor cutter.”
Almost lost amid Muncy’s late inning fireworks was a superb performance from Dodgers rookie starter Walker Buehler who pitched a seven-inning gem.
Buehler, who last year watched Game 2 of the World Series between Los Angeles and the Houston Astros from the Dodgers Stadium stands, on Friday had a much different view and was the man in the spotlight tossing seven shutout innings.
Playing in his first World Series game, the 24-year-old delivered a nerveless effort to silence the Boston bats, allowing just two hits — both singles — while striking out seven without a walk.
However, Alex Wood would get credit for pitching a scoreless 18th inning. Eovaldi took the loss working six innings, giving up just three hits and two runs — one earned.
After the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson — in the third — and the Red Sox’s Jackie Bradley Jr. — in the eighth — traded solo home runs, the drama looked set to end in the 13th when Eduardo Nunez chopped a ground ball single back to Scott Alexander, but the Los Angeles pitcher botched the toss to first base, allowing Brock Holt to come across with the go-ahead run.
However, the Dodgers would answer in similarly wild fashion in the bottom of the inning when Yasiel Puig lined a drive to second baseman Ian Kinsler who could not make the throw to first, the error allowing Muncy to score.
Muncy would decide the issue five innings later after both teams had almost emptied their lineups using nine pitchers each.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS