When I first saw the first and third play on which the fourth run scored, my first thought was “WTF is the SS doing?” Why did he throw home instead of turning two to end the inning?” TK said this on his pbp. Perhaps some or many of you thought the same thing. But after watching the replay several times, I changed my mind, and Stanton voiced my current opinion in the postgame show.
The catcher was the one at fault. With a runner at third and one out, he cannot assume a double play attempt and leave the plate uncovered. Think Bregman and McCann in Game Seven against NYY. The Seattle SS had to charge the ball slightly to his right and was moving diagonally away from second base. Right or wrong, he made the judgment he did not have time to stop, plant, turn, and get the DP to end the inning and to keep the run from scoring. Like Bregman in the ALCS, he threw home to cut off the run which he thought would score if he tried for a DP. The catcher had no business vacating the plate in that situation, and the runner coming from third would have been out. The SS looked foolish throwing to an uncovered base, but the error in judgment was the catcher’s.