MLB playoffs: Rays’ Cash has plenty of company in bad-call hall of infamy
2016 AL WILD CARD
The Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays were tied 2-2 after five innings. The game eventually went to extras, with Baltimore manager Buck Showalter keeping all-star closer Zack Britton in the bullpen, hoping his club would take a lead for him to close out. The offence never came through, and the Jays won on Edwin Encarnacion’s threerun homer in the bottom of the 11th off Ubaldo Jimenez — a pitcher with a 5.44 ERA. Baltimore’s season ended, and baseball’s best reliever never got into the game after compiling a 0.54 ERA and converting all 47 save chances. Likely watching Kevin Cash’s quick hook of the Rays’ Blake Snell on Tuesday night, Britton tweeted an emoji of a man shrugging.
1951 NL PLAYOFF
Brooklyn starter Don Newcombe took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth in the deciding Game 3 at the Polo Grounds. After Whitey Lockman’s RBI double made it 4-2 and put runners at second and third, Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen replaced Newcombe with struggling Ralph Branca, who’d given up a homer to Bobby Thomson in Game 1. Carl Erskine, a 16game winner, was warming up, too — but passed over after bouncing a curve in the bullpen. The rest is history. Thomson homered, the Giants won the pennant and Branca trudged off. More than 50 years later, it was revealed the Giants had used a spyglass-and-buzzer system to steal opposing catchers’ signs and notify hitters.
2003 ALCS GAME 7
Boston’s Pedro Martinez, a three-time Cy Young winner, entered the eighth with 100 pitches and a 5-2 lead at Yankee Stadium. Derek Jeter hit a oneout double and Bernie Williams scored him with a single to bring left-handed hitter Hideki Matsui to the plate. With lefty specialist Alan Embree ready, Red Sox manager Grady Little visited the mound but left Martinez in. Matsui lined a ground-rule double and then scored the tying run on Jorge Posada’s bloop double: Martinez’s 123rd and final pitch. Aaron Boone hit a game-ending leadoff homer in the 11th, sending New York to the World Series. Little was fired and replaced by Terry Francona — who led Boston to the 2004 title.
2015 SERIES GAME 5
Matt Harvey and the New York Mets held a 2-0 lead, needing a win to send the World Series back to Kansas City. A fired-up Harvey was at 102 pitches following a 1-2-3 eighth inning and told manager Terry Collins in the dugout, in no uncertain terms, he was going back out for the ninth. “I wanted it bad,” Harvey said. A huge roar went up at Citi Field as Harvey sprinted to the mound. But he walked Lorenzo Cain on a full-count slider, and Eric Hosmer hit an RBI double. Harvey was pulled for closer Jeurys Familia, and the Royals tied the game with the help of a bad throw . They won 7-2 in 12 innings for their first championship in 30 years. Said Collins: “Obviously, I let my heart get in the way… It didn’t work. It was my fault.”
2019 SERIES GAME 7
Zack Greinke had permitted just two runners and took a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning against Washington at Minute Maid Park. But after Anthony Rendon hit a solo home run with one out and Juan Soto followed with a walk, Astros manager A.J. Hinch made a change. Ace Gerrit Cole was warmed up. He’d never pitched in relief, but had gone 20-5, led the majors in strikeouts and topped the AL in ERA. And he was 4-1 in the postseason. Instead, Hinch brought in reliever Will Harris, who promptly gave up a two-run homer to Howie Kendrick. The Nationals went on to win 6-2 for their first title. Hinch said later that he planned to have Cole close in the ninth.