It was one of the more remarkable catches you’ll see given the situation, and Kiké Hernandez thought the Dodgers had just lost.
With Ernie Clement up for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth in Saturday’s Game 7 of the World Series, Toronto’s hottest hitter drove a 366-foot fly ball to left field with the Dodgers outfield playing shallow. Hernandez took off sprinting and was going to attempt a Willie Mays-style basket catch.
Advertisement
Then, Andy Pages took over.
Pages, only focusing on the baseball, trucked Hernandez and made the catch through the contact to end the inning. But how did that entire sequence go from Hernandez’s perspective? Oh, it was too good.
Speaking to ESPN after the Dodgers’ second straight World Series title, Hernandez said he was on the ground like that not because he was hurt but because he thought the Blue Jays had just won the World Series. When Pages — who was inserted into the game as a defensive sub — checked on him, Hernandez’s only concern was the baseball.
He said:
“I was going to pull a Willie Mays, and then [Pages] tackled me, and I felt like I got dunked on, and I thought we lost,” Hernandez said. “I was just down because I thought we lost. And he came up to me and said, ‘Are you OK?’ ‘F— that, do you have the ball?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go!'”
It was a play they’ll never forget and for good reason.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Kiké Hernandez revealed what he told Andy Pages after WS-saving catch