[Chateau Slate 66]

In the bottom of the tenth, Dan Gladden hustled out a broken bat bloop double to left-center off Peña, and went to third on a sacrifice bunt from Knoblauch. The red-hot Puckett, who had been intentionally walked in the eighth to set up a double play, received another free pass. While a double play was now a possibility with a slow-footed Hrbek now batting, Cox elected to load the bases with another intentional walk and pitch to a light-hitting speedster in Jarvis Brown, who had entered the game in the eighth as a pinch runner for Harper. Kelly, down to an injured Gene Larkin and Junior Ortiz on his bench, called for a pinch hitter and sent up Larkin to bat. Larkin lofted Peña's first-pitch fastball to left-center, over the Braves' drawn-in outfielders, to score a jubilant Gladden. TV broadcaster Jack Buck called out that the Twins had won the World Series the moment the ball was struck. The Twins became world champions for the second time in five seasons.