Kiké Hernández Knew The Rules And The Dodgers Won World Series Game 6

During the National League Championship Series, I wrote that the Dodgers cost themselves a run against the Milwaukee Brewers because an outfielder named Hernández didn’t know the rules. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series, the Dodgers saved themselves a run (and maybe their season) because an outfielder named Hernández knew the rules.

The Dodgers came to Canada with their collective backs against the wall, down three games to two, needing to win back-to-back games on the road to secure back-to-back World Series titles. They felt confident in Game 6, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound; he of the two consecutive post-season complete game victories. And things couldn’t have started any better, with the slumping Mookie Betts delivering a two-out, two-strike, bases loaded single to left in the third inning to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead.

Yamamoto, not as effective or as efficient as he had been in his previous two starts, went six strong (96 pitches), allowing just five hits and one run, while striking out six. Justin Wrobleski came in for an inning and struck out two. Starter-turned-closer Roki Sasaki took the hill in the eighth, and did not look sharp. He gave up a single to the first batter he faced – George Springer – although the ball was not hit very hard (72.2-mph), then walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr., before retiring the next two batters.

In the ninth inning, with Los Angeles clinging to a 3-1 lead, Sasaki plunked catcher Alejandro Kirk on an 0-2 pitch to start the inning. Addison Barger followed with a 105.5-mph line shot to left center. Pinch-runner Myles Straw was motoring around the bases, and would have scored easily. Barger had a sure double, and potentially a triple. However, Barger hit the ball so hard that it lodged in the space between the padded wall and the warning track.

Justin Dean, into the game in center field as a defensive replacement for Tommy Edman, hustled over to retrieve the now dormant ball. He quickly looked back over his left shoulder, where he saw post-season legend (more about that below) Kiké Hernández with his hands in the air denoting a dead ball and a ground rule double. Either upon seeing Hernández or making his own determination, left field umpire John Tumpane also threw his hands in the air making the call official.

As such, Straw had to go back to third base, and Barger was awarded second base. Because Hernández (a) was hustling over to left center to either back up Dean or field the ball off the wall, and (b) recognized the play instantly, and (c) knew the rule instinctively, Dean followed his teammate’s lead and threw his hands in the air. There is a chance – slight as it might be – that if Dean had tried to pick up the ball (pry it out from under the wall?) and throw it back towards the infield without raising his hands, that the umpires would have ruled the ball in play, allowing Straw to score (making it 3-2) and potentially allowing the tying run (Barger) to be on third with no outs.

Had that occurred, Dodger manager Dave Roberts said in a post-game press conference that he would have appealed the play claiming it was a lodged ball and the rule should be enforced. But, in that moment, there is simply no way to know what verdict the umpire crew in Toronto and the replay crew in New Jersey would have rendered. As a side note, had Dean picked the ball up and thrown out either runner, Blue Jays manager John Schneider claimed that he would have appealed the play claiming it was a lodged all and that the rule should be enforced.

For the record, per MLB Rule 5.05(a)(7), a ball is considered lodged if, in the judgment of the umpire, the natural trajectory of the flight of the ball is interrupted long enough to affect the play. And a note to the rule states that how easily a ball might be retrieved by the fielder should not factor in the decision as to whether or not to declare a ball lodged.

But, again, in the moment, it was Hernández’s headiness that saved the day. After the play, Roberts removed Sasaki from the game, and the presumptive Game 7 starter, Tyler Glasnow, came in. He got Ernie Clement to pop out to first on his first pitch. Two pitches later, shortstop Andrés Giménez hit a soft liner to left. Off the bat, it looked like it might fall for a base hit. That, apparently, is what Barger, at second base, thought as he broke for home to try to tie the game. But, that man again – Kiké Hernández – came racing in to catch the ball on the fly and then immediately threw to second baseman Miguel Rojas to complete the game-ending double play.

According to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, there have been more than 1,800 post-season games and more than 700 World Series games, and none have ever ended on a 7-4 (left field-to-second base) double play. Roberts was effusive about Hernández after the game:

As for Hernández himself, well, he couldn’t help but just be himself with Fox’s Ken Rosenthal in the moments after the game:

That leaves the two best words in sports: Game Seven!