Well, so much for the narrative that the Dodgers bullpen cannot be trusted. In last night’s eighteen inning classic, the much maligned bullpen pitched an eleven-inning shutout. 

After Toronto scored its fifth run in the seventh inning to take a 5-4 lead, it never scored again. It really never threatened again. A lot of that had to do with a lineup that was decimated by injury and questionable decision making.

George Springer, Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk, and Addison Barger were all lifted for pinch hitters by the ninth inning. (Springer, for an injury.) That’s four of the best hitters in their lineup who played what amounted to the second game of a doubleheader within last night’s game. No wonder they were shut out in that half of the game.

The Dodgers didn’t fare much better. But they kept hitting at least. Kept putting runners on. Kept putting pressure on the Blue Jays. 

Shoehei Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two doubles and two home runs, the second tying the game at five and sending it into this nail-biting eighteen-inning classic it was. From that point on, he walked five time, four intentional. He got on base nine times in one game. 

But as amazing as he is, it usually always comes down to Freddie Freeman, whose walk-off grand slam in Game 1 last year catapulted the Dodgers to eventually win the World Series, did it again. He led off the bottom of the fifteenth with another walk-off home run to send the Dodgers to a Game 3 win, 6-5, six hours and thirty-five minutes after it started. 

It was a dizzying, back and forth, nailbiter for eighteen innings. It was a game that had everything. Runners thrown out at home. Amazing defense. Not so great defense at times. Clutch hitting. Smothering pitching.

It’s what baseball was meant to be. Like Ohtani, it was a perfect game.

*****