Shaikin: Blue Jays waited too long to walk Shohei Ohtani. Will it cost them a title?

For all the times the Toronto Blue Jays walked Shohei Ohtani, they lost Game 3 of the World Series because of the one time they did not walk him.

They learned their lesson, four times over.

Here’s another Babe Ruth comparison: Ruth played in 41 World Series games. He was intentionally walked twice.

On Monday, in one World Series game, Ohtani was intentionally walked four times.

The situation called for it — no, begged for it — in the seventh inning. The Blue Jays led, 5-4, with one out and the bases empty. Ohtani already had batted three times, with two doubles and a home run.

On a night they would eventually use four pinch-runners, they already had removed two of their four most potent bats in George Springer and Bo Bichette. They needed to win in regulation, and they were eight outs away. As Ohtani stepped to the mound, the Jays held a conference on the mound.

There really wasn’t much to discuss. Their pitcher, Seranthony Domínguez, had held right-handers to a .132 batting average and .451 OPS this season — and left-handers to a .277 average and .816 OPS.

Mookie Betts, who bats right-handed, was on deck. Freddie Freeman, who bats left-handed, would have followed Betts, but he did not have three extra-base hits already.

The Blue Jays did not issue the obvious intentional walk to Ohtani.

“We’re trying to pitch around him,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “You trust Seranthony to make pitches to do that. Sometimes for pitchers it’s hard to do that when you’re kind of trying to throw a ball and didn’t put it where you want to put it.”

To recap: We’re not trying to throw him a strike, but we’re not going to walk him intentionally.

Sure, he might chase a pitch and strike out or make weak contact. But, if you pitch to Ohtani, you might miss your pitch and, if he’s swinging, he might hit a home run.

Domínguez missed, right down the middle. Ohtani’s home run tied the score 5-5.

“After that,” Schneider said, “you just kind of take the bat out of his hands.”

The Blue Jays intentionally walked Ohtani in each of his next four plate appearances, three times with the bases empty and once with a runner on third base.

Shohei Ohtani looks at home plate umpire Mark Wegner as he is intentionally walked in the 13th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Blue Jays on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Too late. The Blue Jays and their increasingly patchwork lineup played another 11 innings, without scoring. The Dodgers won in 18 innings, 6-5, and they can close within one victory of the World Series championship on Tuesday.

In all, Ohtani reached base nine times, setting a postseason record. He became the first player in postseason history with multiple home runs, doubles and walks in the same game. And not since Frank Isbell of the 1906 Chicago White Sox had a player put up four extra-base hits in a World Series game.

Ruth had Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig batting behind him, but the two guys batting behind Ohtani could wind up Hall of Famers too: eight-time All-Star Mookie Betts and nine-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, each a former most valuable player.

“There’s certain times where I feel like, you feel like, you feel better about someone else beating you,” Schneider said. “If that someone else is Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman, it still stings.”

Freeman hit the walk-off home run. Schneider said he would continue to walk Ohtani.

He has no choice. Balls fly in warm weather at Dodger Stadium. The marine layer knocked down several potential home runs Monday, but a heat advisory has been issued for Southern California on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the game-time temperature predicted at 87 degrees Tuesday and potentially a little warmer Wednesday.

“I get it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s the best player on the planet, and he was on the heels of a huge offensive night, and John smelled that and wasn’t going to let Shohei beat him at all, obviously, and even when nobody’s on base and putting him on to make the other guys beat him.”

Highlights from the Dodgers’ 6-5 win in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

Technically, one of the other guys beat the Blue Jays on Monday. But Freeman would not have had the opportunity to beat them in the 18th inning had the Blue Jays won in nine innings, which they would have had Ohtani not hit that home run in the seventh.

Only after that did the walk-a-thon commence.

“When you’re that hot and you’re hitting balls right-center, left-center like Shohei was tonight, you just knew he was feeling good. So that’s the right move,” Freeman said. “You don’t want Shohei to beat you, and you let other guys try and beat you after his first four at-bats. It took a lot longer, but we finally did it.”

The Angels adopted that strategy in the 2002 World Series. They walked Barry Bonds 13 times in the seven-game series, including three intentional walks in the first five innings of Game 4.

Is Ohtani in line for the full Bonds treatment?

“I think it’s all relative,” said Roberts, a teammate of Bonds with the San Francisco Giants.

“Barry’s the greatest hitter I’ve ever seen, but in this day and age there’s just him or maybe (Aaron) Judge. We’re just fortunate we have Mookie and Freddie behind him. But you just don’t see that type of behavior from opposing managers, and that’s just the ultimate sign of respect.”

Benito Santiago, a five-time All-Star, batted behind Bonds in 2002. No disrespect intended, but Betts and Freeman are more complete offensive threats.

Monday marked the 23rd anniversary of the Angels’ lone World Series championship, won in some measure because they did not let Bonds beat them. The Blue Jays have decided they won’t let Ohtani beat them, but that decision might have come too late.