The chain of events that transpired over the next inning and a half were truly remarkable. The hand of fate intervened and inexorably altered what many believed was a logical conclusion. Pirates third baseman Hoak, a hard-nosed ex-middleweight boxer had delivered a highly spirited pep talk in the dugout an inning earlier, and the team was poised to make the kind of comeback they had made so many times that season. Pinch-hitting for Face, Gino Cimoli opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a single to right center. Virdon hit what at first appeared to be a perfect double-play ball to Kubek at shortstop, but possibly hitting a pebble, it took a freakish hop, skipped up and struck him in the throat. Kubek collapsed in a heap and was down for several minutes as the runners were safe at first and second. It was feared at first that he may have a fractured larynx, and despite his protests, Stengel removed him from the game in favor of Johnny DeMaestri. Speaking of the incident later, Kubek stated that he didn't have a chance on the play. "It happened so quickly that I couldn't even raise my glove in self-defense."

The fateful play, which should have left Pittsburgh with two out and no one on base opened the flood gates for a five-run inning. Groat then singled to left, scoring Cimoli, bringing Jim Coates on to pitch for New York. The first out of the inning was recorded when Skinner sacrificed, moving the base runners up to second and third. Rocky Nelson flied out to shallow right for out number two as the runners were unable to advance. Clemente stepped into the batter's box, and what was about to occur was as pivotal a play as there would be, previous to the stunning conclusion. He bounced a slow chopper down to Skowron at first, and inexplicably, pitcher Coates failed to cover the bag for the putout. Instead of ending the inning with New York up 7-6, Pittsburgh, had runners on first and third. Up came back-up catcher Hal Smith, who had replaced Burgess behind the plate in the top of the eighth. Smith had been discarded by the Yankees while still in their minor league system in 1954, and had contributed to many Pirate victories with his bat this season. He rose to the occasion in this clutch situation, magnifying Coates' defensive mistake by smacking a three-run homer over the left field wall for a 9-7 lead.

Pittsburgh brought in Friend to start the ninth and hopefully finish it off, but the Yankees would not go down easily. After giving up singles to the first two batters, Richardson and pinch hitter Long, Friend was quickly pulled and lefty Haddix brought in. Haddix got Maris to foul out, but Mantle singled in Richardson with Long stopping at third. Berra then drilled a sharp grounder down the first-base line to Nelson that very well could have been a Series-ending double play. Nelson fielded it cleanly and ran a few steps over to step on first. He turned, likely assuming he would be able to throw down to second to double up Mantle, but found him just a few feet away from first. Nelson lunged to tag Mantle, but Mickey managed to slide back into first, avoiding the tag. McDougald was allowed to score on the play, tying the game at nine. Some speculated later that if regular first baseman Dick Stuart had been in at the time, he likely would not have been able to handle the grounder at all. Skowron then grounded out to end the inning, and the stage was now set for the most dramatic bottom of the ninth in Series history.

A few most unusual, perhaps untimely occurrences had brought it all down to this classic situation. A bizarre bad hop on a grounder to shortstop that wiped out a likely double play; an almost unforgivable mental error by an experienced pitcher failing to routinely cover first base; a narrowly missed tag in the top of the ninth that made the bottom half of the ninth even necessary.

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