They teach outfielders from the first day of rookie ball: talk. Call it. Take charge. Especially on fly balls that hang in the air like a blinking invitation.
One out, second inning. Austin Riley lofts a routine fly to left-center. Johan Rojas drifts over. Edmundo Sosa drifts in. And then they both stop.
The baseball doesn’t.
It plops to the grass between them — untouched, uncalled for, and unthinkable. Rojas swipes at the bounce in frustration, but the damage is already done. Statcast calls it a 99% out. Instead, it became the easiest double Austin Riley may ever collect.
An inning earlier, Sosa had pulled off a miracle — scaling the wall to rob Marcell Ozuna of a homer in just his first professional start in the outfield. But this was no highlight. This was a communication breakdown, live and in HD.
Rojas stepped toward the ball, as center fielders are trained to do. But when Sosa closed in, he backed off. No one called it. No one caught it. And the inning rolled on.
Zack Wheeler struck out Bryan De La Cruz for the second out — an out that should’ve ended the inning. But with Riley still aboard, Jarred Kelenic walked. Then Sean Murphy ambushed a Wheeler fastball, launching a three-run homer into the Atlanta night to give the Braves a 3-1 lead.
The Phillies punched back in the third. Kyle Schwarber, of all people, laced a triple to the right-center gap — his first in nearly two years — to highlight a three-run frame and flip the score. Two innings later, he went from rare to ridiculous, unloading on a 93 mph heater from Chris Sale that caught too much plate. The result? A 116.7 mph missile, projected at 462 feet, and gone before anyone moved. According to Statcast, it was the second-longest home run of his career. Phillies up, 5-3.
But nothing sticks in Atlanta.
Wheeler ran into trouble again in the sixth, and the Braves clawed back to tie it. Then in the seventh, it was Orion Kerkering’s turn to bend. The Braves took the lead — and didn’t give it back — closing out a 7-5 win in the series opener.
This wasn’t some playoff-tinged, every-inning-matters lineup construction. The Phillies wanted Sosa’s bat — he came in hitting .550 (11-for-20) — and opted for his upside in left field over more familiar gloves. It was a calculated move. But one that came with risk.
On paper, it made sense.
On the field, it fell apart.
Baseball turns on the smallest things — a moment of hesitation, a step back, a ball that hangs just long enough for doubt to creep in. And on Tuesday night, one of those baseballs dropped untouched, and a first-place team paid the price.
Because in this sport, the most dangerous ball is the one everybody thinks someone else is catching.
Quotable
“That’s my responsibility over there,” Johan Rojas told reporters, discussing the play in the second inning. “That ball is mine. I have to catch it. There’s no excuse.”Phillies WPA (win probability added)
Schwarber finished with three hits and led the club on the night with 0.34 WPA. Nick Castellanos also had a solid showing at the plate, collecting three hits while driving in a pair (0.15). Wheeler finished with the lowest WPA on the night, posting a -0.33.
Up Next
Taijuan Walker will start on Wednesday for the Phillies, hoping to build on a successful six inning showing last week. The Braves counter with righty Grant Holmes.
