It's Game 7, Baby

Your humble blogger is a front-running homer, that is, I usually follow baseball only when the hometown Giants are contending, but I have to admit that this year's postseason run by the Dodgers is must-see TV. Los Angeles' Shohei Ohtani has not only broken records, he has given us moments that Major League Baseball in its 149-year history has never seen before. Ohtani had nothing to do, though, with what happened in Game 6 of the 9th inning last night.

The ball hit the seam on the fly and became wedged

With the Dodgers nursing a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th, the Blue Jays leadoff hitter, Alejandro Kirk, was hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch-runner Myles Straw. Then a freak play happened. [bold added]

[Addison] Barger hammered a [Roki] Sasaki fastball over Hernandez's head in left field with a drive that left the bat at 106 mph as Straw rounded the bases. The ball headed for the padding on the outfield wall then became wedged just beneath it, stopping on a dime between the padding and the warning track.

Confusion was everywhere. Dodgers center fielder Justin Dean raced over and threw up his hands, calling attention to the trapped ball. Hernandez, who initially also had his hands up, ran over and started yelling at Dean to grab the ball and throw it into the infield because Barger was circling the bases.

"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."

Left-field umpire John Tumpane called time as soon as he saw the ball trapped under the padding. Taking nothing for granted, Barger rounded third and crossed the plate. The fans thundered, certain they had seen the Blue Jays tie the score on a two-run, inside-the-park homer.

"Been here a long time," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "I haven't seen a ball get lodged ever. Just caught a tough break there."

The play was ruled a ground-rule double, sending Barger back to second and Straw to third. They advanced no farther after the wild play was confirmed on replay.

The Dodgers had caught a huge break. Still, there was a man on second and third with no one out and the potential winning run was coming to the plate. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Sasaki and installed potential Game 7 starter Tyler Glasnow in relief. Desperate times....

The ball arrives at 2nd a split second before Addison Barger

Glasnow got Ernie Clement to pop out to first base on the first pitch. The next batter, shortstop Andres Gimenez, hit a line drive that would normally have been a single and brought in the runners from second and third.

However, the Dodgers Enrique Hernandez was playing in shallow left field, caught the line drive and alertly threw to second baseman Miguel Rojas before Barger could get back to the bag. (Barger represented the tying run and had aggressively wandered too far from second base in case the ball fell for a single.) It was the first 7 to 4 game-ending double play in World Series history. (Position 7 is left field, and position 4 is second base.)

Bring on Game 7, baby!