Phillips, Taylor, and the Relay

October 24, 2020, Game 4 at Globe Life Field. The Dodgers were one strike from a 7–6 win and a lead of three games to one. Brett Phillips, with two outs, singled to center. Chris Taylor, the center fielder, did not field the ball cleanly. The relay came home. Catcher Will Smith did not catch it. Kenley Jansen, the pitcher, was not behind the plate to back the throw up.

Randy Arozarena was the runner who had to score from first, and he went down rounding third. He got up and came home anyway. Tampa Bay won, 8–7. The series was tied. Los Angeles won it two nights later.

The single was a hit. The rest was a sequence of ordinary baseball jobs, each of them missed in order: the pickup, the throw, the catch, the backup. Arozarena's fall is the picture people remember. The run scored because the ball was still loose when he arrived.