One of the most gaudy moments of the 18-inning classic that was Game 3 of the World Series didn’t even happen on the diamond.
The game will rightfully be remembered for Will Klein allowing one hit across four scoreless innings to lead up to a Freddie Freeman walk-off home run, but Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto started warming up in the 16th inning after consecutive complete game performances and on two days’ rest.
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Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw spoke on how much the show of leadership meant to him and how it spoke to the Dodgers as a whole.
“That’s unbelievable,” Kershaw said. “He just threw a complete game two days ago, cross-country travel, get in at four in the morning [on Sunday], one day rest basically, and go out and say he could pitch. Sometimes, that’s what you need to win a World Series and we’ve got a lot of guys willing to sacrifice to do that.”
The five and a half hour flight from Toronto won’t show up on a stat sheet, but Yamamoto’s 216 pitches and 18 innings from his last two starts certainly do.
Kershaw played his part earlier in Game 3, making an appearance to generate a groundball (and a nifty defensive play from Tommy Edman) to close out the 12th inning. It had been 18 days since his last outing.
Yamamoto’s back-to-back complete games marked the first time a pitcher did so in the postseason since 2001. The last complete game in a World Series game occurred in 2015 from Johnny Cueto, and the last Dodger to throw a complete game in the Fall Classic was Orel Hershiser in 1988.
The Dodgers will look to take a 3-2 advantage on Wednesday before the series heads back to Toronto, where Yamamoto will be ready to get back to the mound.
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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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