Dave Roberts takes the ball from Rich Hill in Game 4 of the World Series, a move that may never have happened if not for miscommunication. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

The moment left jaws from Boston to Los Angeles on the floor.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts approached the mound in the seventh inning of Game 4, taking the ball from ace Rich Hill and his one-hitter. They were in control, 4-0, and prepped to even the series with the Boston Red Sox.

It turns out the move was a big mistake. Literally, it was a mistake.

From Pedro Moura’s profile of Dave Roberts (known in this feature as Southern California Dave) for The Athletic:

As his fourth season on the job approaches, he is secure in his post, and he loves life here. One moment from the the last, though, prods its way into Southern California Dave’s mind: the time he jogged out to boost Rich Hill during Game 4’s seventh inning. Hill had told him to keep an eye on him, and, eight outs from a tied series, Roberts decided he would. But Hill was turned toward the outfield when Roberts emerged from the dugout, so he interpreted the action differently. Thinking he was about to be pulled, Hill walked down the mound to meet his manager and hand over the ball. Roberts did not want the ball, but immediately he knew he could not hand it back. So he went to his beset bullpen, and the Red Sox went to town. The series was never the same.

The Red Sox were coming back to the box after taking a nose dive in the bottom of the sixth. Boston was in the field for 23 minutes throughout an error, a pitching change, a hit batter and an intentional walk. Hill was left to wait it out.

The following day Hill discussed the controversial pitching change with Roberts and the media, explaining that his manager asked him how he was feeling prior to the seventh.

“He said, ‘Keep an eye on me. I’m going to give it everything I have. Let’s go hitter to hitter,'” Roberts said.

Roberts told reporters he had never heard Hill tell him such a thing during a game. He went to the mound to keep his word two batters in after Hill walked Xander Bogaerts. The manager takes responsibility for the mix-up.

Story continues

“For me, it’s just disappointing because I pride myself so much on communication,” Roberts told The Athletic. “I went out there to pat him on the butt, and he took it as I was coming to get the ball. For me not to communicate to him and him not to know that I was going out there to support him and get him across the finish line, that’s what gets my gut. Because I had every intention of having him keep going.”

Boston scored nine runs over the final two-plus innings, took a 3-1 series lead and went on to win the title. Roberts’ pitching change was criticized widely, with President Donald J. Trump getting involved, and will now be criticized again months later after The Athletic’s piece.

It may have all changed with two words: Come back.

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