The Phillies, trailing 2-1 in the NLDS, needed a win to stay alive against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The game was 1-1 at the end of the night and stretched deep into extra innings. With no margin for error, the game already hits its fever pitch. Then, in the bottom of the 11th inning with the bases loaded and two outs, reliever Orion Kerkering induced a weak ground ball back to the mound to save the inning. Kerkering couldn’t notice his catcher, J.T. Realmuto’s signal to throw to first in the heat of the moment, and made a wild throw.
The ball sailed away, the Dodgers scored the winning run, and the Phillies’ season was over.
The final throw may be the moment that ended the season, but the first domino fell four innings earlier. Starter Cristopher Sánchez had Dodgers hitter Alex Call in a 2-2 count in the bottom of the seventh and delivered a perfect sinker that appeared to catch the corner for strike three. But home plate umpire Mark Wegner called it a ball. Call walked on the next pitch and eventually scored the tying run. Until then, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead in the game.
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The veteran umpire later admitted his mistake, and according to a tweet from Philadelphia Inquirer writer Lochlahn March, “Cristopher Sánchez said the umpire apologized to him for missing the 2-2 pitch to Alex Call in the seventh. What should have been a strikeout became a walk, and that runner went on to score the tying run.” And at the end, where everything will be under scrutiny, it’s a massive mistake that directly changed the course of the entire game.
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And after the game, the rookie pitcher Orion Kerkering was brutally honest about his season-ending error. “Shit off my foot. Um, just kind of, once the pressure got to me, just thought it was a faster throw to J.T. [Realmuto], a little quicker throw than trying to cross-body to Bryce [Harper], so. Just a poor, shit throw,” Kerkering said. And about hearing his catcher signaling for the safe play at first base, Kerkering said, “Just in the moment. Just kind of looking up, just be ready to get it.”
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But his teammates are well aware of the heat of the moment and support him after the mistake so early in his career. So he said, they said, ” ‘Just keep your head up.’ It’s an honest mistake, just it’s baseball, shit happens, and ‘Just keep your head up, you’ll be good for a long time to come.’ It’s not my fault that we had opportunities to score.” And about a visit from the manager, Rob Thomson, he said, “Means a lot. Shows they care a lot. Um, just means everything, for sure.”
Story is still developing….