ARLINGTON, TEXAS — In the clubhouse after the improbable ending to Saturday night’s game, the Rays’ celebration arrived at the moment to acknowledge the player, Brett Phillips, who came off the bench and delivered the hit that put the winning, wild run in motion.
“He’s not here,†came the reply.
Phillips was in the training room, hooked up to an IV.
“That’s a first,†infielder Joey Wendle said.
“During the celebration, just exhausting a lot of energy, almost passed out,†Phillips said. “I didn’t realize I was dehydrated. First time getting an IV. When I went in the training room my resting heart rate was over 140. They were like, ‘Man, we’ve got to chill you down. Chill out.’ It was all worth it. Just a little hyperventilation going on.â€
There was only a steady pulse at the plate as Phillips came up in the ninth inning with two outs and with two strikes then delivered the base hit that resulted in two runs and for a walk-off 8-7 haymaker to the Dodgers in Game 4. The hit was Phillips’ first in a month, and the RBI was only his fourth since the Rays’ acquired him from Kansas City in late August.
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Phillips, 26, a native of the Tampa Bay area, was not on the Rays’ roster for the ALCS. One of his biggest contributions to the postseason had been an acrostic about Randy Arozarena’s first name that he wrote on a clipboard and launched a T-shirt: “Rakes All Night Day Year.â€
Tampa Bay added him to the World Series roster as a late-game defensive replacement and pinch-runner, and there he found himself in the biggest at-bat yet of the Rays’ season and delivering one of the biggest hits club history.
It took the breath away from more than him.
“It meant a lot for anyone to get a big hit — it’s icing on the cake that it was Brett Phillips,†Cash said. “He hasn’t had the best opportunity since we acquired him, but he’s been the best teammate.â€
When his teammates went to celebrate him, Phillips wasn’t even able to watch highlights of the winning play. He averted his eyes from lights because he had a migraine, he said. Once he was better, he checked his phone to find more than 500 unread text messages.
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright sent one. A best friend from childhood sent him a note about remembering when they were Florida kids in the backyard recreating that exact moment for the Rays. Phillips said he was up till 4 a.m. replying to every single text.
“I take a lot of passion into … a lot of thanking everyone who supported me,†he said.
First error a doozy
After a review of the final play of Game 4, the official scorer altered his ruling and added a second error on the play, to catcher Will Smith. It is the first of his major-league career.
The first error was an obvious one as Phillips’ single glanced off center fielder Chris Taylor’s glove to allow the runners to advance. The second one came when Smith did not glove the relay throw home. Arozarena had started to retreat to third, but when the ball got past Smith he lunged home for the winning run. Smith explained Sunday he didn’t know Arozarena had stumbled — so he rushed the catch and missed it.
“I saw CT book it out in right field, knew the first run was going to score, saw Arozarena, the game-winning run, coming around,†Smith said. “In my mind, I thought it was going to be close. I was trying to make a quick tag, to get it on him as quick as I could, and was a little quick and missed the ball. I had no idea (he fell) until I literally went to tag without the ball in my glove. That’s a heartbreak ending.â€
Job open at closer?
A few hours after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed reassurance and enthusiasm about closer Kenley Jansen’s velocity and a mechanical adjustment the righthander made to restore it, LA’s ninth inning was in disarray again.
The Rays’ rally in the ninth Saturday consisted of a fractured-bat single, Phillips’ liner to center, and Arozarena’s key walk. After the loss, Jansen said he “gave up two soft contacts. I totally broke (Kevin) Kiermaier’s bat.†The wobble and Jansen’s appearance on back-to-back days has the Dodgers auditing the bullpen for high-leverage options, and the trouble extends beyond the ninth.
The Rays made their biggest inroad into Saturday’s win when Pedro Baez allowed a three-run homer. In the past calendar year, the righthander has inherited six runners in the postseason. All six scored.
Neither Baez or Jansen were used Sunday as Roberts engineered 10 outs from the bullpen, including a scoreless ninth from Blake Treinen for the righthander's first career postseason save.
After the game, Roberts repeated that he wasn't thinking about going to Jansen for a third consecutive game, but declined to say whether that meant he would be steering Tuesday's game toward the longtime closer.
“I don’t want to put him in a corner or in a box,†Roberts said of All-Star Jansen in the closer role he’d have just a few hours later. On Sunday, Roberts said: “We’ll see. We’ll see. Right now we’ll play it by ear.â€