Blake Treinen “finds peace” against Aaron Judge in the World Series

Even the casual baseball fan knows all about Kirk Gibson and his legendary walk-off home run. The serious baseball fan knows that Dennis Eckersley gave up the home run. The dedicated Dodgers fan knows that Mike Davis has surpassed Gibson.

But even the most die-hard Dodgers fans would have trouble identifying the winning pitcher that night.

Blake Treinen, this is Alejandro Pena.

Freddie Freeman made a winner out of Treinen and all Dodgers on Friday by hitting the first walk-off grand slam in the 121-year history of the World Series, sending a city into delirium and prompting instant mashups of home runs from Gibson and Freeman triggered.

Treinen saved the Dodgers in the ninth inning of Game 1 against the mighty New York Yankees. The Dodgers saved him in the 10th inning when Freeman hit a home run so dramatic that it became legendary upon landing.

“That,” Treinen said, “was pretty sick.”

Treinen has proven to be the most reliable arm in a deep bullpen. He gave up one run in August, no run in September. He had given up a run in October.

In the ninth inning of a tied game, the Dodgers asked Treinen to replace Michael Kopech with the potential winning run at second base. The Dodgers intentionally released Juan Soto so that Treinen would face the American League's presumed Most Valuable Player, Aaron Judge.

“There is peace there,” Treinen said. “There is peace when you go out and just let it be what it is. You can let the situation grow or just try to live in it and enjoy it.”

Treinen called it a “pick your poison” situation. Neither Soto nor Judge are a welcome sight at the plate, but with Judge the Dodgers had the right-handed hitter against a right-handed hitter.

Jack Flaherty, the Dodgers' starter, struck out Judge three times.

“He's not the guy you necessarily want to hit,” Treinen said, “because he's a great hitter.” But every hitter gives you a window every now and then. Right there we were just trying to make weak contact or at least change eye level and luckily we got a popup.”

Kopech said, “Blake has already cleaned up after me quite a bit this postseason, so it was great for him to come in and do exactly what he needed to do.”

When Treinen returned to the dugout, Kiké Hernández asked him a question.

“Should I stop this?” Hernández asked.

That wouldn't be the end of the script that evening. The Dodgers retired in order in the ninth when Hernández flied out to end the inning.

In the 10th, Treinen gave up a run when Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, stole second base, stole third base and scored on a force play. During the regular season, eight of nine runners successfully stole against Treinen.

The Yankees led 3-2.

“At first,” Treinen said, “I was pretty amazed that I was the one who had an L next to my name.”

Hernández again told Treinen that the Dodgers were coming for him. After the game, Hernández said he expected Shohei Ohtani to hit the walk-off home run.

“Fairytale ending,” Hernández said.

Instead, Freeman hit the walk-off home run — and how about the guy who could barely walk delivered his own fairytale ending?

“It was barely anything before I passed out trying to get on the pitch. I almost fell over the railing,” Kopech said. “Freddie is a bad man.”

Treinen rushed to the plate, joined his teammates and embraced Freeman in a huge hug reminiscent of 1988.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team stay on the field for 20 minutes after the last game just to watch in awe and enjoy the fans,” Treinen said. “It was the most incredible baseball moment I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.”

Legendary Hero: Freeman.

Winning pitcher with the first World Series win of his career: Treinen.

“I never thought about that,” Treinen said. “Add it to the list of gratitude for the big guy above.”