Tampa Bay rally joins list of wildest Series endings
ARLINGTON, TEXAS » It was improbable enough that littleknown Brett Phillips would get the big hit for Tampa Bay 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 Los Angeles 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.
It was undoubtedly one of the wildest endings in World Series history. Arozarena tripped and fell on his way home and had begun retreating to third base when catcher Will Smith 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.
Walk- off homers are one thing — think Kirk Gibson, Carlton Fisk and Bill Mazeroski, among many others. But a finish this wacky has only a few precedents in World Series history.
Some more memorable, unimaginable endings from Series past:
1926, St. Louis Cardinals at N. Y. Yankees, Game 7:
Babe Ruth was already the most fearsome slugger baseball had ever seen when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, his mighty Yankees trailing the Cardinals 3- 2.
With two outs, pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander took no chances and walked Ruth, bringing cleanup man
Bob Meusel to the plate — Lou Gehrig was up after that.
Ruth decided to try to force the action and took off, and was thrown out by catcher Bob O’Farrell. It was the only time a World Series ended with a caught stealing.
1947, N. Y. Yankees at Brooklyn Dodgers, Game 4:
Bill Bevens went 7- 13 for the Yankees in the final season of a brief major league career, then got the start at Ebbets Field. In the biggest game of his life, he was all over the place, walking a record 10 batters.
But he was effectively wild, too. Because with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bevens was somehow still pitching a no- hitter and holding a 2- 1 lead. That’s when aging, popular Dodgers All- Star Cookie Lavagetto stepped up and launched a double off the right field wall, scoring two runs and ending Bevens’ bid for a most unlikely no- hitter.
1986, Boston Red Sox at N. Y. Mets, Game 6: Precisely 34 years before the Dodgers’ double miscue Saturday night, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s 10thinning grounder roll between his legs in baseball’s most well- known blunder.
The error came after Boston scored twice in the top of the inning, only to let New York tie it on Ray Knight’s RBI single and a wild 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. 2013, Red Sox at Cardinals, Game 3: Allen Craig scored the winning run for St. Louis without ever touching home plate after umpire Jim Joyce ruled Craig was obstructed by third baseman Will Middlebrooks.
The game was tied at 4 with one out in the bottom of the ninth when second baseman Dustin Pedroia dived for a grounder and threw out Yadier Molina trying to score from third. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia then fired wildly trying to catch Craig at third, and Middlebrooks tripped Craig after trying to catch the ball.