Only Hernandez knew how close Jays came to winning World Series in six

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Nobody in the entire country wants to hear it, but that game-ending double play that led to Game 7 between the Blue Jays and Dodgers almost never happened.

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Kike Hernandez, the Dodgers left fielder who rushed to catch that liner off the bat of Andres Jimenez and then doubled on a roving Addison Barger from second to end the game, admitted afterward that he initially lost that ball in the lights.

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There were 44,710 people in the building who wanted it to remain lost in the glare because if the ball went past Hernandez, it would hit the wall.

At worst, the Jays would tie the game with Barger doubling and stealing runner Miles Straw in place of Alejandro Kirk, who was hit by a pitch, to score with Jimenez on third in the situation. There's also a chance that Jimenez will just keep running and end up winning the game.

It was so close.

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“I played shallow with the tying run at second base,” Hernandez explained. “I just wanted to make sure that if he hit it in the (shortstop) hole, I was shallow enough to keep the draw at third base.”

There was another Dodger hit in the game.

Hernandez said that as soon as Tyler Glasnow, relieved to pitch a nervous ninth, let go of the pitch, the crowd went silent for a moment, allowing him to hear the bat break on impact and allowing him to jump even better with the ball.

Then the lights came on and Hernandez had no choice but to continue running to where he thought the ball was.

“Halfway through the ball, it hit the light,” Hernandez said. “It wasn't time to stop. Just keep going because you have an idea where the ball is going, and at the very end the ball came out of the light and hit my glove.”

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At that point, Hernandez's main concern was knocking over the second base bag, where he could see Barger had strayed too far.

Hernandez admitted the throw wasn't very good as he tried to slow down and make an accurate throw.

“Incredible pick by Miggy (second baseman Miguel Rojas),” Hernandez said of Rojas somehow bagging one. “I didn’t give him the best throws and he was able to continue the game and we forced a Game 7.”

Of course, all of this only happens after Barger's double gets stuck under the wall in left field, leaving Straw, who would have likely scored at third, and Barger at second.

Hernandez played a lesser role in this as he immediately signaled to the officials that the ball was jammed. He then shouted until he was hoarse at defensive center Justin Dean to take the ball and throw it in in case the referees decided that a double ground rule was not correct in this case. Dean didn't seem to know what to do at this point.

“I was just yelling at him to get the ball and throw it because at some parks, just because the ball is stuck there doesn’t really mean they’re going to call a ground rule double.”

Hernandez was of the opinion that the baseball gods did the right thing by extending the series to a seventh and deciding game.

“I think baseball deserves a Game 7,” Hernandez said. “I think it was a great World Series and the fact that we get a Game 7 is well deserved. Both teams came back hard and (Saturday) it's a one-game series and whoever plays better wins the World Series.”

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