Game 7 ninth inning: How Dodgers' Miguel Rojas and Andy Pages created one of the most exciting frames in baseball history

Dan Treacy

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Game 7 ninth inning: How Dodgers' Miguel Rojas and Andy Pages created one of the most exciting frames in baseball history image

If Toronto Blue Jays fans thought the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series was painful, Game 7 delivered an even harsher test.

Sitting just two outs away from a championship, the Blue Jays watched the Los Angeles Dodgers tie the game with an improbable home run—still leaving Toronto a chance to win a walk-off title in the bottom of the inning.

Just 90 feet from a title with only one out, the Blue Jays needed any one of several scenarios to end the series. Thanks to more heroics from the Dodgers, that opportunity slipped away.

Here’s a closer look at the chain of events that turned Game 7 of the World Series upside down.

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Miguel Rojas home run

With Shohei Ohtani due up third in the top of the ninth inning and the Dodgers trailing by one, it was easy for fans' minds to travel to the possible scenario of the three-time MVP tying Game 7. Few could have imagined it would be L.A.'s No. 9 hitter who would beat Ohtani to the punch.

Miguel Rojas, who hit just seven home runs in the regular season and has hit double-digit home runs only once in 12 major league seasons, blasted a game-tying home run to left field, evoking memories of Rajai Davis' unlikely game-tying shot in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

That was all the Dodgers would get in the top of the ninth, but Rojas made himself a hero just a day after entering the lineup as part of a Dave Roberts shakeup. 

MORE: Explaining why benches cleared during World Series Game 7

Yoshinobu Yamamoto enters

With two runners on base for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth and their season on the line, the Dodgers turned to Yoshinobu Yamamoto—just a day after he had thrown 96 pitches in a start.

Trying to replicate what Randy Johnson did in 2001—pushing his team to a title by pitching in relief a day after starting—Yamamoto hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch and loaded the bases, leaving no margin for error. It didn’t faze him.

Yamamoto somehow worked his way out of the jam, aided by two incredible defensive plays, before returning for the 10th inning.

MORE: Every Game 7 in World Series history

Miguel Rojas force-out play

The second out of the inning came on a terrific play by Miguel Rojas, who saw the potential winning run darting home, nearly stumbled backwards, and then fired a throw right to Will Smith to get the force out. 

Dodgers fans had to hold their breath while the play was reviewed, as Smith's foot appeared to come off of home plate when he caught the ball, but it quickly became clear he got his foot back down in time to get the charging Isiah Kiner-Falefa. 

MORE: How close did Shohei Ohtani come to signing with the Blue Jays?

Andy Pages catch

Ernie Clement, now the single-season postseason hits leader with 30, could have won the World Series for the Blue Jays with hit No. 31. For a moment, it seemed he might.

Clement sent a deep drive to left-center, and as Andy Pages and Kiké Hernández converged, the ball had a chance to drop in. It did not. Pages and Hernández collided, but it was Pages—who had just entered as a defensive replacement for Tommy Edman—who leapt higher and made the catch on the warning track, preserving the Dodgers’ season.

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