Brett Phillips turns his night around with one swing, a breakdown
What Happened
The Tampa Bay Rays are tied with the New York Mets 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning at Tropicana Field. Reliever Drew Smith of the Mets walks Tampa Bay's Yandy Díaz to put the winning run on base with one out. Outfielder Randy Arozarena then lines a single to right field, moving Díaz to third base and putting the winning run 90 feet away. Mets manager Buck Showalter brings in closer Edwin Díaz to face Brett Phillips, who has struggled at the plate tonight, going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. On the first pitch, Phillips rips a line drive into right field, scoring Díaz and sparking a wild celebration from the Rays dugout. Centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier leaps over the dugout railing and joins Phillips in an energetic "airplane" celebration, mimicking a move from the 2020 World Series. As the Rays mob Phillips near home plate, reliever J.P. Feyereisen is the first to douse him with a Gatorade shower. Pitcher Shane McClanahan then sneaks up behind Phillips and dumps a bucket of ice water down his back, eliciting a shocked reaction. Despite the chilly surprise, Phillips flashes a big smile and high-fives his teammates, thrilled to have turned his night around with the game-winning hit. "I'm just so thankful," says an emotional Phillips after the game. "This is why I love this game - you never know when your moment is going to come. I'm grateful to contribute to this win and celebrate with my teammates." Rays manager Kevin Cash praises Phillips' resilience, saying, "That's what makes this game so special. Brett battled all night and he came through when it mattered most. That's the kind of guy you want up in that situation." With the victory, the Rays improve to 79-58 on the season and maintain their lead atop the AL East division. The loss drops the Mets to 89-53, but they still hold a comfortable advantage in the NL East. This thrilling finish is sure to be remembered as one of the highlights of the Rays' 2022 campaign.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentmets and rays are tied up at two in the
bottom of the ninth inning raise looking
to walk it off and
castro goes full count on lao and then
walks them so now you got one out
with one on and things are brewing in
tampa and adamus takes strike one
fouls back strike two sees the off-speed
pitch and then sees the next one and
serves it into right real nice piece of
hitting two-strike away approach on an
off-speed pitch out of the zone and the
runner
goes first to third so now they really
got something going close
play risky play good base running safe
vamos
a bow a bow thank you god no no wait i
gotta dance i gotta dance first gotta
dance before he thanks god okay
dancing dancing slytherin snake zanino's
up he had a big home run in the eighth
to get this comeback started
he sees 3-0 3-1 no no i don't want to
throw that goes fastball again
walks him now bases loaded one out and
they say thanks for making a mess we're
gonna have luke
clean it up he gets joey wendell he
strikes him out joey wendell
sac fly wins the game dude you can't
take
two strikes swinging and that brings up
our dude brett
phillips who's 0 for three with three
strikeouts on the day and to further
that
he had a runner in eighth in the eighth
inning a runner on second just needed to
lay down the sack bunt
couldn't do it turned into a strikeout
so not having a good day first pitch he
sees
bam into right field that's gonna win
the game kiermeier is on the top step
he's over the rail as first as first as
possible
first one over the rail as fast as
possible phillips goes airplane mode we
saw this in the world series
in the world series kiermeier tried to
go airplane mode with him
tripped and fell his airplane crash land
so this time kiermeier just says i'll
just hop
on the ride baby i'll just get that same
jet stream you're going
and he he rides the airplane and then he
says you know what now i have some more
confidence i'll do my own
phillips let's go hair looking great
glass now's hair looking even better
kind of out hairs him
in his moment which i think i don't know
glass now like let him be the hair
guy for you know the moment because he
had to walk up but glass now had a great
start so okay it's a dual hair day
for the rays yeah throw it back brett
throw it back
he's trying to get some air in the world
series he couldn't breathe so he's just
got to make sure he can breathe
oh look little hitch in his giddy step
little hitch
and his giddy up that's what i meant to
say
they hit him with the bubble gum first
which is a great strategy because he's
like okay cool we must have been out of
water
i ain't got to get cold today this is
nice i can do a little bubble gum shower
not bad and then it was a sneak attack
it was a rope-a-dope bam
there's the ice right down your back oh
man that's cold
you're not even gonna dap him up come on
dude who was that
lao you ice bath him he goes oh wow
you got me real good little dab up uh
never mind then see you later