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Just as it started, it appeared over.

Down 3-0 in the first inning, the Cardinals looked like they’d go down 3-1.

World Series, 1964. Game 4.

But Ken Boyer, the great captain, hit a grand slam. St. Louis suddenly led, 4-3, in the sixth inning.

And into the game — and into your life — came Ron Taylor.

The Redbird reliever hadn’t thrown all series, but he proceeded to pitch the four final innings of Game 4. Didn’t allow a run. Or even a hit.

He earned the four-inning save in the 4-3 win. In many ways, he helped save the season.

With the World Series tied, the Cardinals then won Game 5 in New York ... and, ultimately, Game 7 in St. Louis.

Ronald Wesley Taylor died this week. He was 87. Of the 38 men to play in 1964 for the famed Cardinals club, only 15 remain.

Taylor was an unsung hero in the World Series for the 1964 Cards — and then again for the ’69 Mets. He first earned a relief win in the National League Championship series for New York and then, against the overpowering Orioles in the World Series, didn’t allow a run in two relief appearances, while earning a save in Game 2.

But beyond his rings, his legacy in baseball in unique.

“He was our team doctor the eight years I was there in Toronto — and he was a super, super individual,” said Tom Henke, a former Cardinals and Blue Jays closer, by phone from his home near Jefferson City. “You know, when I first met him, I didn’t realize he was a ballplayer. I thought he was just a doctor. And then I thought — Ron Taylor, that name sure sounds familiar. I did a little more research, and then I found out. Because you would have never known — he never said anything about it when he was around the ball club.”

From 1979 to 2014, Dr. Taylor served as the Blue Jays’ official team physician. He was on staff for the World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. He earned the wonderful — and one-of-a-kind — nickname of “Dr. Baseball.” He’s believed to be the only former Major League Baseball player to serve as a Major League Baseball team doctor.

“He did an absolutely wonderful job for the Blue Jays the whole time I was there,” Henke said. “And he was very pleasant, very quiet, kind of humble guy. You almost had to drag words out of him sometimes.”

Taylor was a Toronto native — in 1985, the sinkerballer was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame — and enshrined in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. According to his SABR biography, he was inducted into the Order of Ontario by Lt. Gov. James K. Bartleman for his work in medicine in 2006.

In interviews over the years, Taylor explained that two Mets offseason trips to visit troops in Vietnam sparked his fascination with medicine and patient care. He played in the majors from 1962-72, amassing 74 saves and a 3.93 ERA in his exactly 800 career innings (491 games with 17 starts). Upon retirement, he enrolled in the medical school at the University of Toronto.

Most fans in the Blue Jays ecosystem already knew of Ron Taylor, but many within the Cardinals’ might only learn of Taylor upon his death. His legacy is similar to that of Carl Warwick, who reached base in his first four pinch-hit appearances in the 1964 World Series. One of his pinch hits happened, wouldn’t you know, in the sixth inning of Game 4. He led off with a single ... and scored on the Boyer grand slam. Warwick passed away in April at 88.

But these men are forever nuggets in history, figurative little diamonds upon the World Series ring.

During the 1964 series, Taylor took up yet another vocation — sportswriter. He penned diary-like pieces for the Toronto Star.

Of his four innings pitched in Game 4, he wrote: “I think it was the greatest thrill of my career. ... When Carl Warwick pinch hit for pitcher Roger Craig in the sixth, the phone rang in the bullpen and pitching ����ֱ�� Howie Pollet turned to me and said: ‘You’re in there.’ I didn’t even see Ken Boyer’s homer because I was warming up. ...

“I’m glad they don’t have a car or a motor scooter to bring you in from the bullpen (at Yankee Stadium). The long walk in gives you a chance to get the feeling of the game. ... I think the key play for me was on Roger Maris in the eighth. (Shortstop) Dick Groat reacted so quickly and got the ball which just ticked my glove. With Mickey Mantle coming up next, it would’ve been a much tougher situation. ...

“My mother and father were there from Toronto, and my wife, but the only thing I was thinking about was winning the game until Timmy McCarver ran out to congratulate me after the final out. ... Craig and I have lockers side-by-side and the reporters were swarming all over. It’s the first time in the series anybody has been talking to us. Somebody even asked me if I was related to E.P. Taylor, who owns Northern Dancer. But I’m not. He’s the wealthy one.”

Earlier in 1964, Northern Dancer was the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

And after Game 4, the legendary Bob Broeg wrote on these pages about Taylor’s final four innings: “He’s the greatest stretch runner to come out of Canada since Northern Dancer.”