No. 2001.10.31 · Wild Card Era
Byung-Hyun Kim, Two Nights
Byung-Hyun Kim gave up a game-tying homer in the ninth on consecutive nights of the 2001 World Series. Arizona won the series anyway.
Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, October 31 at Yankee Stadium. Arizona led 3–1 in the ninth. Byung-Hyun Kim had struck out the side in the eighth, and Bob Brenly sent him back out. Paul O'Neill singled with one out. With two out, Tino Martinez hit a two-run homer and the game was tied. In the tenth, after midnight, Derek Jeter homered. The papers called him Mr. November. New York won, 4–3. Kim was the losing pitcher.
The next night Arizona led 2–0 in the ninth and Brenly went to Kim again. Jorge Posada led off with a double. Kim retired the next two. Scott Brosius homered them both in, and the game was tied again. Alfonso Soriano singled home Chuck Knoblauch in the twelfth. New York won, 3–2, and led the series three games to two.
Arizona won Games 6 and 7 in Phoenix anyway, the last of them on Luis Gonzalez's broken-bat single off Mariano Rivera. Kim's two nights did not cost his team the championship. They cost him the ninth inning twice, which is a narrower and more accurate thing to say. Brenly's decision to bring him back on the second night is part of the entry, not a footnote.
Related entries
No. 2000.10.03
2000
Rick Ankiel Loses the Plate
Rick Ankiel was twenty-one, a phenom, and ahead 6–0 in his first playoff start. In the third inning he threw five wild pitches and could not find the strike zone.
St. Louis Cardinals · Atlanta Braves
No. 1951.10.03
1951
The Shot Heard 'Round the World
Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning homer off Ralph Branca is one of the famous swings in the sport. The Giants had stolen the sign.
New York Giants · Brooklyn Dodgers
The Ball Gets Through Buckner
The Red Sox were one out from a title when a ground ball went through Bill Buckner's legs. By then the lead was already gone.
Boston Red Sox · New York Mets