#4: Jays and Phils slug it out at The
Vet, 1993
Toronto Blue Jays (15) at
Philadelphia Phillies (14)
Wednesday, October 20, 1993
World Series Game 4
Veterans Stadium
This
is perhaps the wildest postseason game in World Series history, let alone Blue
Jays’ postseason history. It featured 29 runs, 32 hits, surprisingly no errors,
11 pitchers, a downpour, hilarious base running by a pitcher and a comeback for
the ages. And a scoreless ninth inning (the only inning that was scoreless).
The
Jays came into the World Series as defending champions, having beaten the
Atlanta Braves in the Fall Classic in 1992. The lineup was somewhat different
with Dave Winfield, Candy Maldonado, Manuel Lee, David Cone, Jimmy Key and Tom
Henke having departed, replaced by Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, Tony
Fernandez, Pat Hentgen, Dave Stewart and Al Leiter.
The
Phillies meanwhile, were in the World Series for the first time since they lost
to Baltimore in 1983. They were an unlikely choice to win the National League
East, and then upset the heavily-favoured Atlanta Braves in the NLCS in six
games.
The
teams had split the first two games in Toronto, the Jays taking the first by a
score of 8-5, with the Phillies winning the second, 6-4. The third game, in
Philadephia, had been all Toronto as they cruised to a 10-3 victory. And that
brings us to the fourth game, with Toronto looking to take a 3-1 stranglehold
lead on the series, while Philly was looking to even the series at two games a
piece.
Todd
Stottlemyre started on the mound for the Jays while Tommy Greene would take the
ball for the Phillies. Needless to say, neither of them was around very long.
For
the third time in the series, Toronto scored three times in their first at bat.
Left-fielder, Henderson, led off the game with a double, followed by a walk to
centre-fielder, Devon White. One out later, right-fielder Joe Carter singled to
load the bases. After Greene settled down to pick up the second out on a
harmless pop fly, he then walked Molitor to put Toronto ahead 1-0. Shortstop,
Fernandez, would then single to right scoring White and Carter to make the
score 3-0.
But
Stottlemyre had control problems in the bottom of the first. He walked the bases
loaded. Then with two out and a chance to get out of the inning, he walked Jim
Eisenreich, scoring Lenny Dykstra, making the score 3-1. The next Phillies
batter, Milt Thompson, got the first hit off of the Toronto right-hander. It
was a line drive into the gap in left-centre field and would end up being a
three-run triple and giving Philadelphia a 4-3 lead.
The
top of the second is where we have our calamity. Stottlemyre led off the inning
with a walk. His unfamiliarity on the base paths would show itself two outs
later when he tried to go from first to third on a single by second baseman,
Roberto Alomar. His awkward strides made every Blue Jay fan cringe, but even
worse was his belly flop into third base. Out by a mile, Stottlemyre added
insult to injury when he split his chin open when his head hit the ground
during his slide. While concussion protocols weren’t what they are today back
in 1993, it was obvious Stottlemyre wasn’t quite right when he took to the
mound in the bottom of the second.
He
would give up a single to the first batter he faced, Greene, bringing Dykstra
to the plate. Lenny wasted no time belting the second pitch of the at bat down
the right field line and over the wall for a two-run homer, making the score
6-3 for the Phillies.
The
Jays got another rally going in the top of the third. With one out, first
baseman John Olerud walked and moved to second when Molitor singled to right.
Fernandez would pick up his second hit of the game, another single to right,
scoring Olerud and moving Molitor to third. Catcher Pat Borders would add yet
another single, scoring Molitor to make the score 6-5.
At this point, Green
was out of the game, replaced by Roger Mason. One out later, Henderson would
walk to load the bases. Up came Devon White, and he proceeded to wrap another
single, scoring Fernandez and Rob Butler (who had pinched hit for Stottlemyre
and had grounded into a force play.) The Jays had taken the lead, 7-6, and the
game was only still in the third.
The Phillies would tie
the game in the fourth and then appear to blow the game wide open with a
five-run fifth inning, high-lighted by a pair of two-run home runs, the first
by Darren Daulton, the second by Dykstra, his second of the game. The most
memorable part of Dykstra’s second home run was that after he had hit it, the
steady drizzle that had been falling on this cold Philadelphia night, turned
into a downpour, as if Dykstra’s blast had punched a whole in the heavens: 12-7
Phillies.
But if anyone thought
the Jays were done, they were wrong, in the top of the sixth, an RBI single by
Alomar and an RBI ground out by Fernandez cut the lead to 12-9. But the Phils
got one back in the bottom of the inning and added another in the seventh for a
14-9 lead. Now they needed only six outs to tie the series.
Cue the comeback in the
eighth. With one out, Carter singled and Olerud walked. Molitor then hit a
double to score Carter (14-10) and put runners on second and third. That
brought Phillies closer, Mitch Williams, into the game. The wild left-hander,
who always had the Phillies’ fans’ hearts in their throats whenever he pitched,
would try and get a five-out save.
Williams would surrender
an RBI single to Fernandez (scoring Olerud to make it 14-11), walk Borders to
load the bases, but then strike out pinch-hitter Ed Sprague for the second out.
Rickey Henderson would then single to centre, driving in Molitor and Fernandez,
making the score 14-13. Next in the batter’s box was Devon White, and Williams
quickly had a one ball and two strike count against the Toronto centre-fielder.
On the next pitch, the
comeback would be complete as White hit a line drive into the gap in right
centre that Dykstra had trouble tracking down due to poor footing on the wet AstroTurf.
The ball bounced all the way to the wall. Borders scored. Henderson raced all
the way around from first to score and White made it to third with a triple.
The scoreboard now read: Toronto-15, Philadephia-14. The Phillies and their
fans were stunned. The Blue Jays were ecstatic.
Still, Toronto still
had to get six more defensive outs before Philly scored again but the way
things were going on this night, it wouldn’t be easy. Reliever Mike Timlin
struck out the only two batters he faced before giving way to closer Duane
Ward. The man who had replaced Tom Henke at the back of the Toronto bull pen,
struck out Dykstra to end the eighth, then got the Phillies’ batters
one-two-three in the ninth—the last out settling in the glove of Carter in
right field—and Toronto had won the wildest game in World Series history, 15-14,
and had taken a three games to one lead in the World Series.
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