Game 4: Rays 8, Dodgers 7 Saturday, Oct. 24
The Rays were trailing 7-6 in the ninth before the wackiest finish to a World Series game anyone may have ever seen. With one out, the Dodgers’ Kenley Jensen then shattered Kevin Kiermaier’s bat, with the head of the bat flying to shallow left field and the ball barely getting over the head of second baseman Enrique Hernandez.
With two outs, Randy Arozarena was quickly down 1-2 but worked a full count and drew a walk. Brett Phillips, who grew up in the Tampa area as a diehard Rays fan, hadn’t even had a plate appearance in 10 days. He hit a 92.4-mph cutter on a 1-2 pitch and watched it land in shallow right-center field.
Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor tried to scoop it up, but it shot off his glove. Kiermaier scored from second base, tying the score, but once Rays third-base coach Rodney Linares saw that Taylor didn’t field it cleanly, he wildly waved his arms, sending Arozarena home.
Taylor grabbed the ball, threw a perfect strike to cutoff man Max Muncy. Halfway to home, Arozarena stumbled and fell. He quickly got up and was headed back to third, only Muncy’s throw to catcher Will Smith went off his glove and ended up behind the backstop.
Jansen, who should have been backing up the play, had dropped to his knees in frustration. Arozarena got back to his feet, turned back toward home, dove and slapped his right palm on home plate.
Quotable: “There’s about 40 people besides themselves with excitement and wondering what the hell just happened.” —