No. 2016.10.11 · Modern Era
Five Relievers in the Ninth
Matt Moore left Game 4 of the 2016 division series with a 5–2 lead after eight innings. Bruce Bochy used five relievers in the ninth and did not use Santiago Casilla. The Cubs scored four runs, the last on Javier Báez's single.
Bruce Bochy on a red carpet in Phoenix, March 22, 2017. Not in uniform, not the game.
Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
October 11, 2016, Game 4 of the National League Division Series at AT&T Park. Matt Moore had pitched eight innings, and San Francisco led, 5–2, going to the ninth. Bruce Bochy used five relievers. None of them got the inning finished cleanly. The Cubs scored four runs. Javier Báez's single won it, and Chicago won the series.
Santiago Casilla, the closer, stayed on the bench. He said afterward that he had been ready and had not been asked. A manager may have a reason to go away from his closer. Five pitchers in one inning, with a three-run lead and the series on the line, is a lot of reasons.
Moore's eight innings are the part the retelling skips. The lead was real when he left. The ninth is the entry, and Casilla's absence from it is the decision with a name.
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Film
The call of Báez's single
The radio call of Javier Báez's single, the hit that capped a four-run ninth.
Watch on MLB.comRelated entries
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