Blue Jays' Brendon Little last man standing, thrown into 18 inning pressure cooker in game 3 loss

The much-maligned reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays has been a favourite target of fans in recent months, largely due to his penchant of spiking the ball in front of home plate or giving up home runs.

And while that was again the end result on Monday night, Little being saddled with the loss after surrendering a walk-off home run to Freddie Freeman in the 18th inning of the nearly seven-hour Game 3 on Monday night, this time, the loss isn't really his fault.

Both teams had plenty of chances. While the Blue Jays didn't have a ton of runners in scoring position past the ninth inning, when they did they squandered the opportunities they did have.

In the 10th inning, Davis Schneider came on as a pinch runner and was immediately thrown out at home plate to end the inning. Later on, the Blue Jays had runners at 2nd and 3rd and couldn't capitalize.

Simply put, the Blue Jays didn't hit when they needed to.

While Little gave up the ultimate final blow, he was quite literally the last human the Blue Jays had as an option.

Manager John Schneider also received his fair share of criticism for some of his decision-making in last night's game. Specifically, his decision to sub out Addison Barger in favour of Myles Straw and later, to send in Tyler Heineman to pinch run for Alejandro Kirk.

Schneider and the Blue Jays have been that same substitution all year long, playing for defence in the later innings. The decision was only amplified because of the games length and the perceived lack of power the Blue Jays ultimately became stuck with.

While Little, who has struggled since August, may not get too many more chances, Schneider will be forgiven if the Jays win the next game or two.

Game 4 is tonight.