The numbers are mind-boggling,
Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, an 18-inning marathon won 3-2 by the Los Angeles Dodgers early Saturday, took longer to play -- 7 hours, 20 minutes -- than all four games of the 1939 World Series.
According to Stats LLC, the New York Yankees took 7 hours, 5 minutes to sweep the Cincinnati Reds in the 1939 Fall Classic.
Game 3 at Dodger Stadium between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox offered some interesting numbers that are appropriate for the longest game in World Series history.
Eighteen pitchers were used in the game -- nine for each team -- and they combined to throw 561 pitches.
PItch No. 561 was launched by Max Muncy into the left-field seats for the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 18th inning. It came off Red Sox reliever Nathan Eovaldi, who was entering his seventh inning of work. Eovaldi, who worked out of several jams, threw 97 pitches in relief -- 62 for strikes.
There were more combined strikeouts (34) than there were hits (18).
Muncy’s dramatic shot was the first walk-off homer for the Dodgers in the World Series since Kirk Gibson’s dramatic ninth-inning blast off Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 1988 Fall Classic, which was also played at Dodger Stadium.
Jackie Bradley Jr.’s game-tying homer in the eighth inning marked the fourth time in Red Sox history that a Boston player hit a game-tying shot that late in a World Series game. It was the first time since Bernie Carbo tied the epic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with a three-run shot.
How long was this game? There were two breaks for “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” One was played during its traditional spot in the middle of the seventh inning, while it was sung for the second time in the middle of the 14th.
Muncy made sure the song wouldn’t be sung a third time at Dodger Stadium when he connected at 3:20 a.m. EDT.
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