Max Muncy’s 18th-inning homer lifts Dodgers over Red Sox, ends marathon World Series game

LOS ANGELES — God bless, Mary Hart. She stayed for the whole thing, getting almost as much screen time as she ever did on “Entertainment Tonight.”

Hart and her fellow Dodgers fans were finally rewarded when Max Muncy hit the latest walk-off home run in World Series history, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 victory in 18 innings and ending the longest game (by time and innings) in World Series history early Saturday morning.

“Just a stupid experience for everybody,” summarized David Freese, the last position player to enter the game (as a pinch-hitter in the 14th inning).

“We’re looking to even it up tomorrow. Bottom line.”

Tomorrow was already here.

When the clock struck midnight in the 17th inning, it got a rousing cheer from the crowd in the stadium. Long before then, the game had devolved into that staple of California TV – a car chase you couldn’t look away from, too much invested to turn it off and go to bed before seeing how much damage would be done in the end.

The 7-hour, 20-minute marathon exhausted the resources of both teams – 46 of a possible 50 players were used. Boston’s eight relievers included their Game 2 starter (David Price) and their scheduled Game 4 starter (Nathan Eovaldi).

“I’m tired,” said Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger, one of 10 players who played all 18 innings. “But I feel a lot better being 2-1 than being down 3-0.”

Indeed. The Dodgers played the entire game on the razor’s edge of falling down a likely-fatal three games to none. Now they will turn around in a mere 16½ hours and send … somebody to the mound with a chance to even the series.

“Gotta get some sleep,” Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill said in the post-game locker room after answering a series of questions about starting Game 4.

A few minutes later, Dodgers PR sent out an announcement saying the team’s Game 4 starter was … TBA – raising the question of what happened before Hill got to bed.

“How do you spell that – TBA? TBA,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora when asked about his team’s pitching plans for Game 4.

Boston’s TBA was supposed to be Nathan Eovaldi. But Cora turned to him in the 12th inning of Game 3 and Eovaldi threw 97 pitches and allowes just three hits over six-plus innings. He is the first reliever to throw five innings or more in a World Series game since Madison Bumgarner in Game 7 of the 2014 Series for the Giants.

“The effort was amazing,” Cora said of the losing pitcher. “We kept talking to him. ‘I’m good. I’m good. I’m good.’”

The two-time Tommy John survivor (and former Dodger) earned respect from both sides of the field.

“Just an insane outing,” Freese said. “You start thinking about Bumgarner. At least, I did. Eovaldi did such a great job for them. Just an animal.”

That’s how long the game lasted – Walker Buehler’s start was a faded memory by the time it ended.

The Dodgers got seven brilliant innings from Buehler, survived a blown save by Kenley Jansen, saved the game with great defense in the 10th, nearly lost it with poor defense in the 13th and tied the score in the bottom of the 13th only when the Red Sox bungled a run across for them.

Did you get all that?

Clayton Kershaw appeared as a pinch-hitter (and flew out in the 17th). Eighteen of his fellow pitchers actually made it to the mound and threw a combined 561 pitches. Muncy was a possible goat – he left first uncovered in the 13th-inning mishap and struck out after launching a drive just foul down the right field line in the 15th.

Then he was the hero, extending Eovaldi for seven pitches to start the 18th and finally launching a full-count cutter over the wall in left-center field.

“The at-bat before (in the 15th), he got me on a really good backdoor cutter,” Muncy said. “He had really good stuff all night long and he wasn’t missing a spot. Next at-bat, he tried to go backdoor cutter again but he left this one a little over the plate. And thankfully for me, he did that because I was able to get my bat on it.”

“It’s been a dream. … This whole year has been a surreal experience,” Muncy said.

“What a dude,” Freese summarized again. “He came from Oakland, made some adjustments, dropped down in his stance, kept his eye and started blasting baseballs.”

It was worth the wait for the Dodgers who are now guaranteed to – at least – play through the weekend at Dodger Stadium.

“It was a must-win for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Our guys just persevered. It wasn’t pretty.

“We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now, to have two more games at home. … I know it’s a lot better feeling than we had after Game 1 and Game 2.”