ARLINGTON, Texas – A second error has been charged to the Los Angeles Dodgers on the wild play that ended Game 4 of the World Series, when the Tampa Bay Rays scored twice for an 8-7 victory.
Major League Baseball said Sunday that official scorer Steve Weller, after reviewing the play from the previous night, charged catcher Will Smith with an error that allowed the winning run to score.
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There were two outs and runners on first and second when light-hitting Brett Phillips flared a single into right-center field. Chris Taylor tried to scoop up the ball, but instead knocked it away him while the tying run scored. That error allowed Randy Arozarena an extra base, from first to third.
Arozarena was waved home as Taylor recovered the ball and threw to first baseman Max Muncy for a relay throw to Smith.
A step in front of the plate and slightly up the first-base line, Smith tried to catch the ball and make a sweeping tag in one motion. Except the ball went off his glove.
"I saw Arozarena, the game-winning run, coming around, and in my mind I thought it was going to be close," Smith said Sunday. “I didn’t realize he tripped and fell. I was just trying to make a quick tag and get it on him as quick as I could. It was a little quick, missed the ball.”
That allowed Arozarena, who had stumbled to the ground and taken steps toward home and then back to third, to get up and instead dive to the plate with the winning run.
Smith said he didn't know Arozarena had fallen down until he “went to tag without the ball in my glove.”
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