Less than a day after a wrenching, 440-minute defeat ended well past midnight in Game 3, the Red Sox trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning of Game 4 before they shook off that heartbreak, warmed up their bats and sped away from LA.
"Sometimes in October we talk about mechanics, and how you feel at the plate and all that, (but) sometimes it's will," manager Alex Cora said. "You will yourself to do great things. And it started very simple. A few good at-bats, and then the big swing, and we kept rolling and we didn't stop playing."
Pearce was an unlikely candidate to join that lineage as the latest postseason hero in Boston's long October history, but the 12-year major league veteran who joined the Red Sox in June did it twice.
Less than 17 hours after Max Muncy's 18th-inning homer for the Dodgers ended the longest game in World Series history at 7 hours, 20 minutes, the teams were back on the field in Chavez Ravine. Game 4 took only 3 hours, 57 minutes, but had at least as many dramatic twists.
The Dodgers must overcome a 3-1 deficit to end their 30-year championship drought. Only six teams have accomplished the feat in the best-of-seven World Series, although the Chicago Cubs did it just two years ago.
Moreland got the comeback started with his three-run shot off Ryan Madson — and only Boston's second hit of the game — after Xander Bogaerts and Holt drew walks.
Pearce even scored Boston's ninth run on Bogaerts' single, celebrating wildly with his teammates in somnolent Chavez Ravine.
Devers added a big defensive play in the ninth when he slid to stop Manny Machado's hard grounder at third before throwing across the diamond for the second out. Craig Kimbrel retired Cody Bellinger to end it, leaving Puig in the on-deck circle.
The stands were packed with iconic Los Angeles athletes from Sandy Koufax and Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant, who read the Dodgers' starting lineup before watching from the front row in a Machado jersey. Hollywood luminaries also attended, including Charlize Theron, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, James Franco, Don Johnson and Rob Lowe. For the first pitch, Dennis Eckersley took the mound in an Athletics jersey for a toss to Kirk Gibson, whose game-ending homer off Eck in the 1988 World Series still looms larger than Muncy's blast in Dodgers history.
Rodriguez threw 93 pitches and became the first pitcher to start a World Series game on zero days' rest since Firpo Marberry for the Washington Senators in 1924.