THIS DAY IN BEISBOL October 21: Alfonso Soriano wins 2001 ALCS Game 4 with walk-off HR

Alfonso Soriano was coming off a solid rookie season when on this day in béisbol, October 21, 2001 the Yankees second baseman hit what was arguably the biggest homer of his nascent career.

The Dominican native blasted a walk-off homer in Game 4 of the ALCS into the right field bleachers at Yankee Stadium that sent the fans into a frenzy and sank the Seattle Mariners into a 3-1 hole.

Bombers centerfielder Bernie Williams had homered in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score at 1-1 when Soriano hit his moon shot. The Yankees would go on to win Game 5 and face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series.

Soriano then provided more late-innings heroics with a walk-off hit in Game 5 and an eighth-inning home run in Game 7 that broke a 1-1 tie, but the Yanks would lose the series in heartbreaking fashion when the always reliable Mariano Rivera blew the save in the ninth.

Also on this day: In the 2000 “Subway Series” between the Yankees and the Mets, Bombers utility infielder Jose Vizcaino became an unlikely World Series hero when his single in the bottom of the ninth drove in the winning run. Closer Armando Benitez coughed up a 3-2 lead on the hit, Vizcaino’s fourth of the night.

Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; LatinoBaseball.com illustration