The Tampa Bay Rays were down to their final out in Game 4 after seeing the Dodgers take a 7-6 lead after yet another two-out RBI single from L.A. off the bat of Corey Seager in the top of the eighth.
Randy Arozarena came to the plate with Kevin Keirmaier on first and worked a tremendous at-bat to get a walk, bringing Brett Phillips, who has been abysmal with the bat all season, to the plate. Phillips, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Ji-Man Choi earlier in the game, came up against the Dodgers embattled closer Kenley Jansen and was able to fight off a cutter just far enough to get past the shift and into center field — for his first career postseason hit!
Keirmaier scored easily, but a pair of errors by the Dodgers, the first by Chris Taylor who wasn’t able to pick the ball up cleanly and then by Will Smith at the plate, allowed Randy Arozarena to score the game-winning run from first despite tripping and doing a barrel roll midway down the third baseline in one of the wildest finishes you’ll ever see.
RAYS WIN! RAYS WIN! WHAT JUST HAPPENED!! WOW! pic.twitter.com/2G1vyOFkji
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 25, 2020
That sequence of events allowed Tampa Bay to even the World Series at 2-2, as the Dodgers seemingly imploded as a collective unit at the worst possible time. Arozarena would’ve been out by a mile since he tripped, but because Smith was assuming he was going to have to make a quick tag, he took his eyes off the ball and failed to secure it. Just look at this!
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 25, 2020
It was a ridiculous finish to a ridiculous game, in which the Dodgers scored all seven of their runs with two outs, continuing a preposterous two-out hitting streak this postseason, and the Rays just kept finding ways to answer every time the Dodgers produced runs — someone scored in every inning but the second as they traded leads and ties until Tampa came out, somehow, on top.
Phillips’ post-game interview is an all-timer as he recounted what he saw from second base amidst the chaos.
“Man baseball is fun!… WOW!”@Brett_Phillips8 joins @Ken_Rosenthal after his crazy walk-off hit! pic.twitter.com/Rxh6hT6pxY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 25, 2020
Sometimes stuff happens and next thing you know you’re airplaning in the outfield, man.