LOS ANGELES — Even after admitting that using a position player to pitch was a possibility, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on Tuesday said he’s a fan of playing traditional extra-inning rules in the postseason.
A night earlier the Dodgers won Game 3 of the World Series in the 18th inning. In the regular season, the game almost certainly would have been decided much earlier, with the automatic runner at second base to start each inning, beginning with the 10th.
Instead, the teams played until Freddie Freeman homered to give the Dodgers a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays.
The 18-inning game tied for the longest in World Series history — the Dodgers beat the Red Sox in that other marathon, in Game 3 of the 2018 Fall Classic.
“It’s baseball in its truest form and part of winning a seven-game series is if there are games like that, then you have to go through the battle of attrition with pitching,” Roberts said. “I do like the way it is, and also for the regular season, the way it’s structured.”
Roberts got a fourth inning of scoreless relief from his 10th pitcher of the night, Will Klein, and was set to insert Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who had pitched a complete game two days earlier — if the game reached the 19th inning. And if Yamamoto couldn’t have pitched? Infielder Miguel Rojas was the next option.
“That’s kind of where we were at,” Roberts said, noting that Game 1 starter Blake Snell had thrown a pregame bullpen session and likely would not have been considered.
George Springer was “hour to hour,” according to Blue Jays manager John Schneider after leaving Monday’s game with side discomfort on a swing.
Bo Bichette started at DH in Springer’s spot and went 1-for-4, including a key RBI single in the seventh inning.
Springer did not play in Tuesday’s 6-2 win.
But Schneider wasn’t ruling out the possibility Springer would be available in some capacity later in the series.
“He plays for moments like this,” Schneider said. “Whenever this season is over, you guys will be surprised to see how much he has grinded physically. If he’s good to go in any way, shape or form, I want George.”
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