Ten under-the-radar moments that mattered: Floro’s three changeups
(Editor’s Note: This series looks at 10 plays you may not remember but shouldn’t be forgotten on the Dodgers’ October road to a World Series title.)
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Barnes knocks Snell out
by Cary Osborne
World Series Game 6
Second Inning
The Dodgers went with rookie Tony Gonsolin to start Game 6, and the plan was to go with the right-hander as long as he was effective. Gonsolin allowed a home run to Rays left-fielder Randy Arozarena in the first inning, and five of the 10 batters the Dodger starter faced reached base.
With runners on first and second in the second inning and the Dodgers down 1–0, manager Dave Roberts made the decision to make it a bullpen game, and right-hander Dylan Floro would have to get Arozarena out. Arozarena’s earlier home run was his 10th of the postseason — an all-time record. But the breakout star, to that point, was 1-for-8 against the changeup in the postseason. Floro threw three pitches — all changeups, all strikes. The third struck Arozarena out swinging.
The Dodger bullpen threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowed two baserunners and struck out 12 batters in the Dodgers’ 3–1 win:
• Floro: 1/3 scoreless IP, one strikeout, retired the one batter faced
• Alex Wood: 2 scoreless IP, three strikeouts, retired all six batters faced
• Pedro Báez: 2/3 scoreless IP, one strikeout, one hit
• Victor González: 1 1/3 scoreless IP, three strikeouts, retired all four batters faced
• Brusdar Graterol: 2/3 scoreless IP, one hit
• Julio Urías: 2 1/3 scoreless IP, four strikeouts, retired all seven batters faced
Why It Was So Big: The Rays were 7–1 entering the game when scoring first in the postseason. They grabbed a 1–0 lead in this game, but Floro faced the most dangerous American League hitter this postseason and prevented the Rays from adding to their lead and building momentum. Arozarena, by the way, batted .404/.451/.957/1.408 with eight home runs in 51 plate appearances in the postseason against right-handers. The Dodgers came back to win the game, securing the Dodgers’ first title since 1988.
Quotable: Minutes after being awarded the World Series MVP, Corey Seager diverted the spotlight onto Dodger pitching.
“You can’t say enough about our pen, our pitchers, our starting staff. What they’ve done all year and how they’ve been able to do it and just absolutely keep us in ballgames and keep us close, get us back in games, let us get some momentum and then have big innings where they shut them down, you can’t say enough about what they did,” Seager said. “Offense gets portrayed more because you have to score to win. But man, without those guys, we’re not here. We’re not in the same spot. We’re probably at home already.”
