Cash: Margot made call to try to steal home off Kershaw

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Manuel Margot shocked just about everyone when he attempted to steal home plate off Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw in the fourth inning of Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday.

Margot's attempt came up just short, and the play proved a turning point in the contest, as the run would have tied the game but, instead, the out ended the inning. Tampa Bay lost by a score of 4-2.

Rays manager Kevin Cash said postgame that the attempted steal was entirely Margot's decision.

"I know Kershaw has the real high hand set, whatever he does, and I think Manny just felt like he had a beat on it, that he could time him up," Cash told reporters postgame.

However, Cash refused to place blame on Margot for running the Rays out of the inning.

"I think we try to do things and make decisions and allow players to be athletic, and be the athletes they are," Cash said. "And if Manny felt that he had a read on it for whatever reason, it's tough for me to say yes or no, just because he's a talented baserunner, he might be seeing something that certainly I'm not, or can't appreciate in the moment, and he's trying to do something to pick his team up."

Kershaw credited first baseman Max Muncy with alerting him to step off the rubber and throw home, something he said he's worked on with his fielders over the years.

"It's happened to me before, at least one other time that I can remember," Kershaw told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. "Carlos Gomez tried it against me in Houston one time. I work on that with the first basemen. I always tell them like, 'Hey, I looked at him originally, but if they break you gotta say something.' And I just know now to step off fast and throw it."

No player has successfully stolen home in a World Series game since the then-Anaheim Angels' Brad Fullmer in 2002, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.