Freddie Freeman provided the heroics with a walk-off home run in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series, but the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen also stepped up to help the team take a 2-1 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays.
A total of nine pitchers combined to allow just one run over the final 13.1 innings of Monday’s marathon at Dodger Stadium.
Will Klein tossed the final four innings on 72 pitches, which was double his previous career high in any game at the Major League level.
“Probably college, my junior year when I was still a starter,” Klein answered when asked when the last time he threw that many pitches. “I realized that when I looked around in the bullpen and my name was the only one still there.
“I was just going to go until I couldn’t, and that’s kind of what happened and. Thankfully, Freddie saved us from Yamamoto having to do the same thing.”
Klein got through his first three innings with relative ease before running into some trouble in the 18th. He had to work around two walks and a wild pitch in order to put up a fourth zero on the scoreboard.
“Yeah, a lot,” Klein said when asked if he needed to summon one final energy push. “I started to feel it, and there were times when, like, you’re starting to feel down and, like, you feel your legs aren’t there or your arm’s not there, and you just got to be like, ‘Well, who else is going to come save me, you know?’
“So I had to dig deep, do it myself. And hearing our guys in the dugout and the fans kind of come behind, especially with Will calling that last curveball, I was like, ‘All right, cool, let’s do it.’
“And just having those guys kind of takes all the fatigue out of you and stuff.”
Will Klein pushed himself
Klein’s performance in Game 3 was nothing short of remarkable considering he hadn’t even been on the Dodgers postseason roster until the World Series.
The right-hander did everything he could to keep the score tied until the Dodgers eventually won on Freeman’s walk-off home run.
“Just keep going,” Klein began. “We weren’t losing that game, and so I had to keep going back out there. I was going to keep doing that and doing all I could to put up a zero and sit back down and go do it again.”
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