After committing an error in the top of the eighth that allowed Otis Nixon to score from third, Kelly Gruber made up for his mistake in the bottom of the frame, tying the game with a home run to left.

KELLY GRUBER When I dove for Sanders on the triple play, I blew up my shoulder. So now I can’t lift my arm and I’m on deck in the eighth inning. I couldn’t separate my arms to hit. Avery gave me a changeup high and inside. It was the only pitch I could have hit and I didn’t miss it.

With the game tied in the ninth, Duane Ward replaced Guzmán and gave up a single to Sid Bream. Braves manager Bobby Cox swapped Bream for the much faster Brian Hunter and, on a 2-2 pitch to Jeff Blauser, Hunter took off for second and was gunned down by Pat Borders. An appeal from Borders and Manuel Lee got Blauser called out swinging to complete the double play. Furious at the call, Cox threw a helmet out of the dugout and was ejected.

CITO GASTON I wish I had the money that Bobby spent getting thrown out of games. Bobby and I go back to winning a double-A championship in the Texas league. We played together in the Texas league and winter ball in Venezuela. Also, Bobby was responsible for me coming over to the Blue Jays. I was a coach in the Braves organization and he brought me over as his hitting coach. So, it didn’t surprise me that he was going to get run out of that game.

The game was still tied in the bottom of the ninth when Winfield came to the plate with Carter and Alomar on first and second and nobody out.

DAVE WINFIELD They didn’t give me the signal to bunt. I was taught the game of baseball very well at a young age. If you couldn’t bunt then you couldn’t play for the team I played for growing up. After this game, I called my old coach in Minnesota; his name was Bill Peterson. We used to have to bunt with the end of the bat. That’s how he trained us. I called him and I said, “How did you like that bunt?” I would venture to say that most big hitters in the leagues can’t bunt. But for me, it’s a skill you’ve got to have. You’ve got to advance those runners to third. You can score nine different ways from third but you can’t from second. I had no problem sacrificing and letting Candy do what he needed to do. That’s baseball, man.

BUCK MARTINEZ Sprague got walked intentionally as a pinch-hitter after Winfield bunted. He’d already hit the home run, so they walk him.

ED SPRAGUE I pinch-hit for Olerud. I’m like, “I’ve got an opportunity to win two World Series games in a row.” Now it was home and it was much harder to control my emotions. Of course, they intentionally walked me, and I kept on looking back — they’re walking me, walking me, walking me — I didn’t want to get surprised. In that case, they probably would have had more success throwing to me because I had a really hard time controlling my adrenalin.

The intentional walk brought Candy Maldonado, hitless in three at-bats on the day, to the plate with the bases loaded. After falling behind in the count 0-2, he came through, driving a ball over the head of Otis Nixon in centre to bring in Alomar.

CANDY MALDONADO, LF Earlier in the game, Cito told me that if guys get on base, Winny is going to bunt, they’re going to walk Olerud and you’re going to win the game for us. My first two swings, knowing they were going to throw me sliders, I over-swung. Then I said to myself, “Well, they got me on two strikes, so just get down and put the ball in play — that’s all you need.” I come from a little island called Puerto Rico and I’m the one to get the winning hit in the first game ever played in Canada. And my fellow countryman, Robbie, scored the winning run from third. It was very special.

The Jays stayed hot in game four with Jimmy Key retiring 18 of the 19 batters he faced between the second and seventh en route to a 2–1 win and a 3-1 series lead. Game five would be less special as the Jays looked to close out the World Series at home. On the mound, Gaston stuck with Jack Morris. Unfortunately, Morris’s playoff struggles continued: He was rocked for five runs in the fifth, capped by a Lonnie Smith grand slam, and left the game to boos, sporting an ERA of 8.44 for the series. David Wells, Mike Timlin and Mark Eichhorn all pitched well in relief, but the Jays couldn’t climb back, losing 7–2.

JOHN OLERUD, 1B [We went] to Atlanta and had a day off the next day. It just dragged it out. It’s just another two days to have it weighing on your mind. I wanted to get out there and get going.