ARLINGTON, Tex.—Pull the thread from the bedlam of late Saturday night, one of the most incredible World Series games there’s ever been, and it tugs back about eight or nine hours to mid-afternoon.
That’s when Cody Bellinger’s back tightened up. And that’s why first A.J. Pollock and then, crucially, Chris Taylor wound up playing center field for the Los Angeles Dodgers as Game 4 splashed this way, then that way, then this way again.
For the Rays to climb back into this World Series with a series-evening 8-7 walk-off stunner with two outs in the ninth inning, so many things—both big and small—had to happen, and it starts there.