LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 The World Series Late Show was so good the Dodgers produced a sequel: The Late, Late Sho.<\/p>\n
Seven years and one day after outlasting the Boston Red Sox over 18 innings<\/a> in Game 3, Los Angeles did it again, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5<\/a> Monday night on Freddie Freeman\u2019s 18th-inning home run off Brendon Little to take a two games to one lead in the best-of-seven matchup.<\/p>\n Dodgers rookie reliever Justin Wrobleski, having gotten five outs in the sixth and seventh innings, was astonished at what he saw.<\/p>\n \u201cI look up at the scoreboard and the innings that I pitch are no longer on the scoreboard,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the craziest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Shohei Ohtani, used to a dual life as a batter and pitcher, had what amounted to a double game at the plate. He homered twice and doubled twice<\/a> in the first four-extra-base-hit Series game since Frank Isbell in 1906. <\/p>\n He then walked five times, four of them intentionally \u2014 three times with no one on base. He tied the record of reaching base nine times. He even stayed in the game after being stricken by a leg cramp while he was caught stealing in the ninth inning.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he\u2019s got to pitch in like, I don\u2019t know, 12 hours, 13 hours,\u201d Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw marveled.<\/p>\n A night to remember saw 609 pitches thrown over 6 hours, 39 minutes. Forty-four players appeared, including 19 pitchers. The Dodgers outhit the Blue Jays 16-15 in a game that included a 10-inning double shutout \u2014 no runs were scored from innings eight through 17. Los Angeles went 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 18 runners, and Toronto was 2 for 12 RISP with 19 left on base.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes everybody to win a World Series,\u201d said the Dodgers\u2019 Max Muncy, who hit the winning 18th-inning homer against Nathan Eovaldi in 2018 \u2014 the only LA win in that Series.<\/p>\n In an array of defensive gems, right fielder Addison Barger cut down Freeman at the plate with a 98.5 mph missile, Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. threw out Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez at third with an 87.6 mph rocket, Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman gunned down Isiah Kiner-Falefa from short right field and Hern\u00e1ndez relayed to Edman to throw out Davis Schneider at the plate.<\/p>\n \u201cCrazy, crazy, crazy, crazy game,\u201d Toronto starter Max Scherzer said.<\/p>\n Kershaw helps bullpen<\/p>\n Sandy Koufax, a three-time World Series champion two months shy of his 90th birthday, stayed until the end.<\/p>\n A three-time Cy Young Award winner who plans to retire after the Series, Kershaw came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded in the 12th inning to Fun\u2019s \u201cWe Are Young,\u201d in what the 37-year-old left-hander thought was his first extra-innings outing at any level. Nathan Lukes fouled off Kershaw\u2019s second full-count pitch, a 91.9 mph offering that was his fastest since July 31, 2024, then grounded to second.<\/p>\n \u201cI throw gas now,\u201d Kershaw said, laughing.<\/p>\n Kershaw had \u201c51\u201d written on his cap like other Dodgers relievers in a tribute to Alex Vesia, who is missing the Series because of what the team said was a \u201cdeeply personal family matter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was warming up for like four innings,\u201d Kershaw said. \u201cThat\u2019s bullpen life. I\u2019m learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles set a Series record by using 10 pitchers. Rookie Will Klein got the win with 72 pitches over four scoreless innings, both double his previous big league highs. He stranded runners at second and third in the top of the 18th by striking out Tyler Heineman.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were times when you\u2019re starting to feel down and you feel your legs aren\u2019t there or your arm\u2019s not there, and you just got to be like, well, who else is going to come save me?\u201d Klein said. \u201cSo I had to dig deep, do it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Game 1 starter Blake Snell had thrown a bullpen and was unavailable. Yoshinobu Yamamoto approached manager Dave Roberts and pitching coach Mark Prior volunteering to relieve, two days after throwing 105 pitches to win the opener in his second consecutive complete game<\/a>. Yamamoto was warming up while Klein pitched the 18th.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in the next inning,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cHe would have gone as long as we needed. He would have been the last guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Rojas was ready to pitch<\/p>\n Second baseman Miguel Rojas, who made four mop-up pitching appearances during the season, entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 13th and realized a few innings later he might be called on to pitch on 115 days\u2019 rest and become the first position player to take the mound in a World Series.<\/p>\n Rojas threw 120 big league pitches over the past three seasons and mentally readied his arsenal, which ranged from 36.6 mph to 69.8 mph during this year\u2019s outings.<\/p>\n \u201cI was the only one who had done it before and feel like I had the best chance to kind of get outs if I needed to be out there for the boys,\u201d he said. \u201cI was thinking about actually pitching, trying to throw at least one fastball and one breaking ball.\u201d<\/p>\n As each extra inning unfolded, Wrobleski kept leaving the dugout for the clubhouse and joined Michael Conforto, Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates, a trio of inactive teammates, in trying to will a victory.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe wardrobe change, maybe something to try and get us some runs,\u201d Wrobleski said. <\/p>\n \u201cWell, I went sweatshirt and then I went no sweatshirt and then I went two different pairs or three different pairs of shoes. The third pair of shoes finally worked,\u201d he said, proudly pointing out white Skechers.<\/p>\n Kershaw\u2019s kids have their own locker next to his in the Dodgers clubhouse, but as he spoke to reporters there was no sign of the four, who range in age from 3 to 10. Asked whether they saw the end of the game, he said: \u201cAt least two of them did.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n