- [Bote] Bases loaded, two outs, two strikes, down three.
I definitely tried to tell myself to hit a homer to center, uh,
and like realistically.
Hit it as far as you can to center field.
Look for a ball down, get underneath it, and hit it as far as you can to center field,
and then see what happens.
♪ [music] ♪
I just go back to the inning and play it out.
- [Announcer] The last chance for the Cubs, trailing by three tonight.
- [Heyward] I try to play the scoreboard always, and let the game come to me.
And it's a different thing when you're down by three, one out already, nobody on.
You just want to keep the line moving, try and do anything you can to get
on base.
I've been facing him since my first year in 2010, since I was a rookie.
So just going into this moment, I know that he does have crazy numbers
against lefties.
He's more confident, I feel like that kind of plays
into his arsenal.
♪ [music] ♪
He made a good pitch first pitch of that at bat.
I feel like he wasn't ready to give in, and for me, it was just like,
"Just try and get a pitch in the zone.
Take what the game gives you."
- [Announcer] As Heyward chops one off the plate, Difo's got to hurry.
And he loses the handle. [crowd cheering]
Ah, the new guy, it always finds you.
- [Maddon] They just put the replacement in.
Difo came in to play second.
This is a really difficult game that people think is easy.
It's not, it's very hard.
-[Heyward] There we go. Now, we're in business.
We got something happening.
You don't know what's going to happen with the next guy, but at least we got a start.
-[Announcer] Bottom of the ninth, one away, Almora at the plate.
- [Almora] I hate being the last out of the game, it's one of my biggest
pet peeves.
So I'm kind of thinking, "I don't want to be the last
out of this game."
-[Heyward] The hit I got was not a big hit, but it ended up making this pitcher have
to focus on me, like just that much, to where he's going to lose some control.
♪ [music] ♪
-[Almora] I kind of like let out like a little yell, because I thought it was going to be
a fast ball.
So when I saw the changeup, I kind of like yelled a little bit and
maybe shouldered a little bit more.
But it got me, it got me for sure.
I got to first and you could feel like the,
the vibration of the stadium just get a lot...a little more intense.
[crowd cheering]
-[Announcer] Willson Contreras, the last chance for Chicago tonight.
- [Contreras] I knew I was, I was going to face a really tough
right-handed pitcher.
I just got one, two count like really quick, and just told myself to slow
everything down because I knew, Madson, he likes to work really quick.
So that's when I decided to call timeout.
Then I thought to myself, "He's going quick.
Try to slow down, just call timeout."
♪ [music] ♪
-[Announcer] A little cat and mouse game going between Contreras and Madson, yeah.
-[Announcer 2] Timeout.
-[Maddon] That was part of the pre-series meeting, that if he gets in the game,
to do things like that because it will bother him.
Some information like that may came from a...may come from a guy that had played
with Madson in the past, he had seen it specifically.
So you might get some insider stuff like that.
-[Contreras] I called time-out again right there.
I remember what the umpire told me.
-[Maddon] Willson, God, who plays with his heart on his sleeve more than he does?
He's not worried about offending anybody's sensibilities, right.
He's just doing what he thinks is right, which I love about him.
-[Contreras] That's the way I play, like compete and try to win every
single pitch. And it worked.
♪ [music] ♪
-[Bote] I did the math, I saw where we were in the lineup.
I was like, "You know what?
There's a chance for bases loaded, two outs."
And the pitcher's spot was up.
I went down to the tunnel, took two swings, and I was like,
You know what? I feel good.
I feel right where I need to be.
came back up, I saw J-Hey's ball, and then Almora
got hit.
And I was like, "Okay, this is kind of happening."
And then I saw Willson was on deck, and I was riding on the mound,
I was anticipating that it could be Happ, you know, being the righty/lefty match-up.
And I was like, "You know what?
There's a chance for a pinch runner.
Let's go get your legs loose again."
-[Maddon] The type of pitcher that Madson is, I actually like righties on him better
than lefties.
Chopper, left-handed, with Heyward.
Then hit batter, hit batter, right, right, hitter.
So I think he sees lefties better than he sees righties.
He has the kind of stuff that David could hit.
I don't want to empty this, the box of secrets right here,
but I thought it was a good matchup.
-[Bote] I went down to the tunnel to get the body moving again, and Hyder comes down.
He's, "Bote, Bote." And I was like, "What?"
I'm like "Yeah, I'm running." And he goes, "You're on deck."
And I was like, "All right. Let's go."
-[Announcer] Should it go any farther, David Bote waits on deck for Chicago.
[crowd cheering]
♪ [music] ♪
-[Announcer] Heyward, Almora, and, uh, Contreras.
And now, we're going to have a pinch runner at first, as Ian Happ will come
out to represent the tying run.
-[Happ] I also got pinch ran for later in the year, so it feels better to pinch run
for somebody than to get pinch-run for, I'll tell you that.
♪ [music] ♪
-[Bote] The pitching coach comes out.
I'm in my thoughts, I'm in my head.
He's probably saying, "Hey, get the ball down.
You can't get beat with a ground ball."
And that's where he was like, "They're probably going to go down there,
so you go down there too, but get it up.
Like, get underneath it, and get it up in the air, and get it out."
♪ [music] ♪
And as I walked up to the plate, I could hear the chants.
But then once I got in there, everything went silent.
As weird as that sounds, but it's true.
Dug my foot in, kicked the dirt.
Uh, move my jersey, look at my bat.
[deep inhale/exhale] Deep breath.
I go, "Hit it as far as you can to center field."
I was ready to go right away, like that's where I wanted it.
I was like, "Okay, that ball's middle away down.
Okay, stay back. Let it get there.
Like, stick to the approach.
Hit the ball as far as you can to center field."
♪ [music] ♪
Close, very close.
He's sticking to his plan, and I'm sticking to my plan.
♪ [music] ♪
I yell, "No," at the umpire.
"No!" And I was like, "Can't do that."
Like, like, "You're a rookie, you can't do that.
Like, hold back."
And I was like, I wanted to like say, like, "I'm sorry, like,
I didn't want to show you up," which it doesn't look like I showed him up,
which helps.
Because then like nobody else knows it.
It's done, like can't change it.
You're one, two, that's what it is.
So get back in there and battle.
♪ [music] ♪
He's done the same thing the entire at bat, so...
...nothing changes. Just stay on it.
Look for a ball down, get underneath it, and hit as far as you can to center field,
and then see what happens.
♪ [music] ♪
When you're looking for it, and you're like, "Hit it as far as you can
to center field," and then you actually do it...
There's not really a better feeling when you make that contact, it's solid.
[crowd cheering] -[Announcer] Bote to dead center field.
Did he get it? Did he get it?
Santa Maria, walk-off slam. [crowd cheering]
-[Heyward] He hit that ball, [laughs] everything froze.
[laughs] That's ball game.
-[Almora] He crushed that ball.
I look back and I know this game's over.
[crowd cheering]
-[Happ] We're down three, which means I'm the tying run.
So as soon as he hits that ball, I am at full sprint.
I think I slapped Butterfield on the ass before the ball got out of the park,
because I was trying so hard to tie the game.
-[Bote] I was yelling, "Let's go, let's go," sprinting.
Get here and Javy pulls me down, boom.
[laughs] The jersey didn't rip.
So I'm on the ground, and they're pulling me up, ripping it.
-[Maddon] The biggest thing it does, it really bolsters your confidence.
And to do it in front of Bill Murray, my God.
♪ [music] ♪
-[Bote] I don't remember much after.
I remember the at bat, of course.
But yeah, mostly after that is kind of...there
yeah, it's just not, not there.
My wife, she wasn't at the game, our kids were asleep.
She turned it on and saw me walk up to the plate, and she was like,
"Oh, no." Like, "What, what's going on?"
Our place overlooked Wrigley, she opened up the doors
and she watched it.
She watched the at bat unfold, you know, saw me hit it and she just stood out there
listening to them sing "Go Cubs, Go."
As a kid, you know, you dream about that moment.
To then do it, um, pretty cool.
♪ [music] ♪