As midnight approached, Brendon Little left a sinker over the plate that Freeman hit 406 feet to center field to finally end one of the most memorable games in postseason history.

Memorable but not always scintillating to watch. The teams combined to go 4 for 26 (.154) with runners in scoring position and leave 37 runners on base.

There also were seven runners thrown out on the bases.

“I’m spent emotionally,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

For any Red Sox fan who stayed awake until the finish, it had to bring back memories of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series.

That was the night starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi came out of the bullpen and pitched six innings for the Sox before allowing a game-ending home run by Max Muncy.

The Red Sox came back to win the next two games and clinch the series. This time, the Dodgers have the 2-1 lead and Toronto has to win one of the next two games to get the Series back to Canada.

“I love the way we played. I love the way we fought,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “I think every single player had the right intentions on both sides tonight.”

Schneider impacted the game as much as any player. After Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was 4 for 4 with two doubles, two home runs and three run scored in the first seven innings, Schneider had him intentionally walked four times in a row.

Ohtani also walked on four pitches in the 17th inning in what was essentially an intentional walk. The four intentional walks were a postseason record.

Ohtani’s nine times on base broke the postseason record of six held by three players, the last Detroit outfielder Kerry Carpenter in the 15-inning fifth game of the Division Series against Seattle this season.

That’s not all. Ohtani’s four extra-base hits tied a Series record set by Frank Isbell of the White Sox in 1906 against the Cubs.

Shohei Ohtani is the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitcher for Tuesday’s Game 4.Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

When Freeman’s homer cleared the fence. Ohtani rushed to the plate to celebrate. He then broke off from that group and ran to left field to hug teammates Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Sasaki pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Yamamoto was warming up as the game ended despite his having pitched a complete game on Saturday.

“He would have gone as long as we needed,” Roberts said.

Ohtani is scheduled to start on Tuesday against Shane Bieber.

“I hope we don’t lose sight of our starting pitcher tomorrow got on base nine times tonight,” Freeman said, laughing at the idea that such a thing was possible.

The Dodgers bullpen pitched 13 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing 10 hits. One of the biggest outs was recorded by 37-year-old Clayton Kershaw to leave the bases loaded in the 12th inning.

Kershaw, only days away from retirement, got Nathan Lukes to ground to second to end an eight-pitch at-bat.

Rookie Justin Wrobleski got five outs and former Boston College righthander Emmet Sheehan picked up eight. Another rookie, Edgardo Henriquez pitched two innings.

A third rookie, Will Klein, pitched the final four innings and threw 72 pitches. His previous high in a major league game was 36 pitches on June 25 against the Cubs.

“Just keep going. We weren’t losing that game, and so I had to keep going back out there,” Klein said. “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.”

Klein said he had not thrown 72 pitches in a game since 2020 when he was a starter for Eastern Illinois University.

Klein was asked if the 18th inning would have been his last.

“I sure hope so,” he said.

By the 17th inning, the Blue Jays athletic trainers were handing out fruit to the players. Will Smith, who caught every inning for the Dodgers, sat slumped in a chair at his locker after the game.

Roberts seemed stunned to have managed another 18-inning game in the World Series.

“Those guys over there [the Blue Jays], they gave it everything they had,” he said. “Unfortunately, somebody’s got to [lose] that game and fortunately for the Dodgers we’ve got Freddie Freeman on our team. I’m just so proud of this group of men.”

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Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.