No. 2020.10.27 · Modern Era
Cash Pulls Snell
Blake Snell led Game 6 of the World Series on 73 pitches when Kevin Cash took him out after a one-out single. Nick Anderson allowed the tying and go-ahead runs. The Dodgers won the championship.
Blake Snell in a Rays uniform (Mother's Day game, Camden Yards), May 13, 2018. Not the 2020 World Series.
Keith Allison: Flickr, e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, website / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
October 27, 2020, Game 6 at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The Rays led, 1–0, in the sixth. Blake Snell had thrown 73 pitches, struck out nine, and allowed two hits. With one out, Austin Barnes singled. Kevin Cash came and got him.
Nick Anderson relieved. The tying run scored, and then the go-ahead run. Los Angeles won, 3–1, and won the series. Snell had been the best pitcher on the field. The inning he left became the inning the season ended.
Cash's account was that the matchups, and a third time through a lineup that had already seen Snell, were the reason. Snell said afterward that he had wanted to stay. The entry keeps both sentences. A decision can be the one the model recommended and still be the one the game punished.
Film
Cash and Snell on the change
Kevin Cash and Blake Snell, after Game 6, on the decision to leave the game in the sixth.
Watch on MLB.comRelated entries
No. 2003.10.16
2003
Grady Little Leaves Pedro In
Boston led Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS by three runs. Grady Little visited the mound, left a tiring Pedro Martinez in, and the Yankees tied the game.
Boston Red Sox · New York Yankees
Kershaw, Then Kelly
Dave Roberts brought Clayton Kershaw in to protect a two-run lead, and Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto homered back to back. Joe Kelly then pitched a second inning, and Howie Kendrick hit a grand slam.
Washington Nationals · Los Angeles Dodgers
Britton Stays in the Bullpen
Buck Showalter saved Zach Britton, who had converted all 47 of his saves with a 0.54 earned-run average, for a lead that never came. Ubaldo Jiménez gave up a three-run walk-off homer in the eleventh.
Baltimore Orioles · Toronto Blue Jays