When Sosa’s check swing on a 2-2 pitch hit catcher Carlos Narvaez’s glove in the tenth inning with the bases loaded and no out, he won the game. After a review by the Phillies dugout revealed the contact, Sosa was able to take first and Brandon Marsh, the automatic runner, scored the game-winning run.
Sosa, who came in as a pinch hitter in the eighth and singled, said, “I felt my barrel was a little late on the pitch.” Additionally, I feel as though I hit the catcher’s glove as I move through my swing path. I started gesturing in the dugout after telling the ump that I thought I felt something.
Since the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench on a call on August 1, 1971, this is the first time a walk-off catcher has interfered in a big league game. Joe Gibbon was the pitcher and Willie Crawford was the batter.
Narvaez committed an error on the play, his sixth of the season and the second-highest of any major league catcher. In the fourth inning, Narvaez also had his fifth passed ball, which put Nick Castellanos in scoring position after he knocked in the first run for the Phillies. J.T. Realmuto’s single was scored by Castellanos.
Narvaez stated, “I don’t think I was that close to the hitter.” It all happened so fast. It would have lost us the game if that had occurred at that precise moment. I accept responsibility. I need to improve. That isn’t possible.
This is the Phillies’ third season-long walk-off victory. In the first, Bryson Stott scored on a wild pitch against Washington on April 29. On June 6, a single by Marsh in the eleventh inning led to a walk-off victory over the Chicago Cubs.
On July 8, Patrick Bailey blasted a three-run, walk-off, inside-the-park home run that cost the Phillies a game in San Francisco.
According to Phillies manager Rob Thomson, there are two things this season that I haven’t witnessed in forty years. A walk-off catcher’s interference and a walk-off inside-the-park home run are the two examples.
In the tenth inning, the Phillies prevailed without a ball being played. Marsh was at second base when the inning began. Boston reliever Jordan Hicks walked Otto Kemp while attempting to bunt him to third.
The runners were pushed to second and third by Hicks’ errant pitch to Max Kepler in his opening delivery. Kepler was purposefully walked by the Red Sox. The game was decided when Sosa got down 0-2, fouled a pitch off, and then offered at an 86 mph slider, striking only Narvaez’s glove thumb.
It’s peculiar, Zack Wheeler, starting pitcher for the Phillies, remarked. On a baseball diamond, people frequently remark, “I’ve never seen that before.” It’s just one more. How many more times can you say it, I wonder?
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Link: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb AP MLB
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