Echoes of ’86 in Game 4’s wild ending
It was improbable enough that little-known Brett Phillips would get the big hit for the Rays against Dodgers All- Star closer Kenley Jansen.
What followed was outright inconceivable.
Phillips’ tying single with two outs in the ninth inning turned into a game-ending hit when the Dodgers dropped the ball twice, allowing Randy Arozarena to stumble home as the winning run in the Rays’ 8-7 victory in World Series Game 4 on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
It was one of the wildest endings in Series history. Arozarena tripped and fell on his way home and had begun retreating to third base when catcher Will Smith, above, misplayed a relay feed. Arozarena about-faced and dived toward home, pounding on the plate with a big smile while Phillips burst into tears in the outfield.
“Man, baseball is fun,” Phillips said.
One of the most memorable, unimaginable endings from Series past of course came in Game 6 of the 1986 edition of the Fall Classic pitting the Red Sox against the Mets.
Precisely 34 years before the Dodgers’ double miscue Saturday night, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s 10th-inning grounder roll between his legs in baseball’s most wellknown blunder.
The error came after the Red Sox scored twice in the top of the inning, only to let the Mets tie it on Ray Knight’s RBI single and awild pitch by Bob Stanley. The score was knotted at 5 when Buckner let Wilson’s dribbler go by, bringing the winning run around and setting the stage for the Mets’ Game 7 victory.