Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw runs onto the field during the 12th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday at Dodger Stadium.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Kershaw wasn't going to go out that way. His services were not needed for the remainder of the series, the Dodgers' four-game win over the Milwaukee Brewers, or the first two games of the World Series.
But he… and everyone else in the Dodgers bullpen — was needed during Game 3 of Monday night's marathon. Glasnow pitched the first 4 2/3 innings, followed by relievers Anthony Banda, Justin Wrobleski, Blake Treinen, Jack Dreyer and Rocky Sasaki as the first nine innings finished tied 5-5.
Emmett Sheehan got through the 10th and 11th innings unscathed, but got into a jam in the 12th with two outs and the bases loaded. That's when Kershaw, who had begun warming up in the ninth inning, finally got the call to play in his 496th career game and his first in extra innings.
“I got really hot. I was free.” Kershaw said in an interview with MLB Network after the game. “I threw enough pitches, but that’s the life of a bullpen guy, I’m learning.”
Dodger Stadium erupted as Kershaw's warm-up song, jokingly appropriately titled “We Are Young,” played over the loudspeakers. featuring Janelle Monáe, and the veteran pitcher was preparing to face Toronto outfielder Nathan Lux, a hitter who had gone 1-for-4 with a double and a walk up to that point.
With a Dodgers pitching legend Sandy Koufax With childhood pal Matthew Stafford also watching from the stands, Kershaw threw his first pitch, 89 mph slow for a first ball. Then came the second pitch, an 89 mph slider that caught Lux seeking to tie the game 1-1.
The third pitch, another 88 mph slider, narrowly missed the inside corner of the plate. There was no doubt about the next pitch, an 87 mph slider for the called strike. The fifth section was a dirt slider at 87 mph.
Clayton Kershaw pitches in the 12th inning during Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Lux then finally found time to swing the bat, fouling an 89 mph slider into the left field bleachers and a 91 mph four-seam fastball high and behind the plate.
Then came the eighth pitch of the bat, an 88 mph low slider that Lux bounced to second baseman Tommy Edman, who picked up the ball and threw it out of his glove to first baseman Freddie Freeman just in time to catch the Blue Jays' fast right fielder for the third out of the inning.
Kershaw kept a straight face as he walked off the mound, pumping his fist and shouting, “Let's go!”
“Just trying to come in and get one out, definitely something I haven’t done a lot, but you just try to do your job and what’s asked of you.” Kershaw told reporters in the locker room after the game. “And luckily there was a little turnover there, and yeah, it was a big loss for us – I thought it was going to be an even bigger loss, but we played about nine more innings.”
