The Los Angeles Dodgers held off a late Toronto Blue Jays rally to secure a 3-1 win in Game 6 of the World Series, evening the series at three games apiece and setting up a winner-takes-all Game 7 on Saturday night.
The contest ended in dramatic fashion when Blue Jays shortstop Andres Gimenez lined into a game-ending double play.
Charging forward, Hernandez snatched the ball in left field and fired to second base, where Miguel Rojas made a clean pick on Addison Barger, who had strayed too far from the stop as the potential tying run.
Gimenez’s liner came off Tyler Glasnow, making a rare bullpen appearance, and for a split second it looked destined to drop in for a game-tying hit that could have seen both pinch runner Myles Straw from third, and perhaps Barger from second get over the line.
Hernandez reacted instantly though, sprinting in to make the grab before unleashing an off-balance throw to Rojas, who caught it in time to double up Barger.
The play was reviewed and confirmed, sealing the Dodgers’ season-saving victory.
He credited a rare moment of silence from the roaring crowd for helping him track the ball.
“I was just anticipating him hitting the ball like to the left side of the field and just playing shallow, trying to keep the runner at second base from scoring,” Hernandez said.
“But for a split-second, as Glasnow threw the ball, the crowd got quiet, and I was able to hear that the bat broke. So, I just got a really good jump on the ball, and I came in.”
All the runs came in the third inning. Mookie Betts capped a three-run Dodgers rally with a two-run single, while George Springer’s RBI base hit pulled one back for Toronto.
On the mound, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kevin Gausman reprised their Game 2 duel, each working six strong innings before turning the game over to their bullpens.
The pitchers on both sides traded zeros until the ninth, when chaos briefly threatened to undo the Dodgers’ efforts.
Roki Sasaki began the inning by hitting Alejandro Kirk with a pitch, prompting Straw to take over as a pinch runner.
Then Barger launched a drive to deep left that initially looked like a game-tying extra-base hit. The ball rocketed off the bat at 106 mph and seemed destined for the wall, but instead lodged itself beneath the padding on the warning track.
Centre fielder Justin Dean raised his hands to signal the ball was stuck, but Hernandez urged him to act fast.
“I was just screaming at him to get the ball and throw it in because that’s the umpire’s discretion,” Hernandez said.
“The fact that the ball stuck there doesn’t mean that they’re actually going to call ground-rule double. So, I was screaming at him. That’s kind of why I’ve lost my voice a little bit.”
As confusion spread, Barger circled the bases and crossed home, and the crowd erupted, believing the game was tied.
But left-field umpire John Tumpane had called time immediately, ruling the ball a ground-rule double and sending Straw back to third.
“Been here a long time,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “I haven’t seen a ball get lodged, ever. Just caught a tough break there.”
After a brief delay and replay confirmation, Glasnow entered for Sasaki, throwing only a handful of warm-up pitches before getting Ernie Clement to pop out on his first offering.
Two pitches later, Gimenez lined into Hernandez’s glove, and history.
“Stay up in the air. Stay up in the air,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his thoughts in that moment.
“And Kike just gets great jumps. He is one of my favourite baseball players to watch. He’s one of the headiest baseball players I’ve ever been around.”
The Dodgers became just the eighth team in World Series history to turn a game-ending double play while facing elimination, and the first since the 1972 Cincinnati Reds.
Now, after six fiercely contested games, the Fall Classic will come down to one final night.
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