Had Will Smith known that Randy Arozarena did a face-plant between third base and home, the chaotic play that ended Tampa Bay’s stunning 8-7 walk-off victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night would have turned out a whole lot differently.
“In my mind, I thought it was going to be close,” the Dodgers catcher said before Game 5 on Sunday. “I didn’t realize he tripped and fell. I was just trying to make a quick tag and get it on him. I was a little quick, missed the ball, and unfortunately it got away.”
The Dodgers were leading 7-6 when, with two on and two out, Brett Phillips looped a single to shallow right-center field off reliever Kenley Jansen.
Kenley Jansen and the Dodgers were one out away from taking a commanding lead in the World Series. Instead, the unfathomable has happened.
Kevin Kiermaier scored from second with the tying run, but when the ball kicked off center fielder Chris Taylor’s glove for an error, Arozarena, who started the play at first base, steamed around third and headed for home.
Taylor’s throw home was cut off by first baseman Max Muncy, whose short relay was a little to the right of Smith but manageable. Smith tried, in one motion, to make a backhand catch and swipe a tag on Arozarena, but Smith rushed the play, and the ball squirted out of his glove and toward the backstop.
Arozarena would have been caught in a rundown had Smith fielded the ball cleanly. Instead, Smith’s error allowed the Rays slugger to scramble to his feet and slide head-first into home, pounding the plate nine times with his right hand as his teammates stormed onto the field.
The final play of the Dodgers’ 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the World Series.
Had Smith realized Arozarena tripped, “I would have just caught the ball and not worried about the tag at all,” he said. “I had no idea until I literally went to tag him without the ball in my glove.”
Many catchers prefer to toss their masks aside as plays at the plate develop to give them a better view of the incoming throw and to feel less encumbered while catching the ball and applying tags. But Smith left his helmet and mask on throughout the entire play.
“A play at the plate, I always leave it on,” Smith said. “I don’t know, you’re just taught that as a catcher, I guess. You can see everything with the mask on. It doesn’t hinder your vision at all. I think I make that play 99 times out of 100 with the mask on and 99 times out of 100 without a mask on.”
The final play of Game 4 of the 2020 World Series will live in Dodgers infamy. Here’s how the team reacted to it after their 8-7 loss to the Rays.
Smith said he wasn’t expecting Muncy to cut the throw home from Taylor, which was a little offline but playable.
“I took a couple steps over in case it got by him, but he made a good play,” Smith said of Muncy. “He made a good catch, a good relay, a good throw to me, and it’s just unfortunate we didn’t put it all together.”
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2020-10-25/dodgers-will-smith-final-play-world-series
2020-10-25 22:13:00Z
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