This wasn’t just another gut-punch in July.
No, what happened Tuesday night at Oracle Park wasn’t something you’ll see again soon—unless the Phillies' bullpen keeps lurching into the ninth without a plan that works.
It took one of baseball’s rarest plays to send the Phillies to a stunning 4-3 loss, but let’s be honest: the fuse was already lit.
The dagger? A three-run, inside-the-park walk-off homer by Giants catcher Patrick Bailey—a sequence that unfolded like a scene written by baseball’s most twisted screenwriter. A fastball from Jordan Romano—his slowest of the night at 93.9 mph—met Bailey’s bat, then the bricks in Triples Alley, then the left-field warning track.
Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh chased helplessly as Bailey, not exactly Rickey Henderson, rounded third. Giants third base coach Matt Williams waved him in. The crowd roared. And the Phillies? They slumped.
“It’s one of those plays where baseball is just kicking you in the face,” Marsh told MLB.com. “It hit one of the worst spots it could have possibly hit. It took the complete kick where Nick [Castellanos] and I weren’t at. An inch here, an inch there, a different kick, it just hit the perfect spot and shot off across the warning track where the grass couldn’t kill it. It just kept rolling.”
It was just the third time in Major League history that a catcher has ended a game with an inside-the-park homer - those two other times? the Washington Senators’ Bennie Tate did it on Aug. 11, 1926 and the Cubs’ Pat Moran on Aug. 4, 1907.
Talk about history.
This marked San Francisco’s ninth walk-off win this season—tops in the majors. And for the Phillies, this one hurt not because it was weird, but because it was familiar.
Once again, the bullpen cracked. Once again, a winnable game slipped away.
It started as a return-to-the-rotation night for Taijuan Walker, who was solid over four innings. Tanner Banks, Max Lazar, and Matt Strahm followed with scoreless frames. The Phillies carried a 3-1 lead into the eighth, and the plan—at least in theory—was clean.
The last time anyone ended a contest with a walk-off inside-the-park homer? August 2016. Tyler Naquin. The kind of baseball trivia no Philly fan wanted to be part of.
This marked San Francisco’s ninth walk-off win this season—tops in the majors. And for the Phillies, this one hurt not because it was weird, but because it was familiar.
Once again, the bullpen cracked. Once again, a winnable game slipped away.
It started as a return-to-the-rotation night for Taijuan Walker, who was solid over four innings. Tanner Banks, Max Lazar, and Matt Strahm followed with scoreless frames. The Phillies carried a 3-1 lead into the eighth, and the plan—at least in theory—was clean.
Orion Kerkering was unavailable and so Daniel Robert got the eighth because manager Rob Thomson wanted Romano fresh for the ninth.
Romano escaped the eighth. But in the ninth? A leadoff double. A one-out single. Then the pitch to Bailey, the misplay off the wall, and the sprint home that felt like it took a week.
Just like that, the Phillies were walking off the field—heads down, questions all around.
Sure, the Bailey highlight will run on every sports network and scroll across social feeds for the next 24 hours. But for the Phillies, it’s a deeper headline. The trade deadline is looming, and the front office knows it: this bullpen is a move away from October collapse.
Romano was supposed to help. Maybe he still will. But Tuesday night was a sharp reminder that in July, things break weird. And in Philly, you better have a bullpen that doesn’t.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, Robert ran into trouble with two runners on and one out, meaning Romano had to enter early. That meant five outs.
Romano escaped the eighth. But in the ninth? A leadoff double. A one-out single. Then the pitch to Bailey, the misplay off the wall, and the sprint home that felt like it took a week.
Just like that, the Phillies were walking off the field—heads down, questions all around.
Sure, the Bailey highlight will run on every sports network and scroll across social feeds for the next 24 hours. But for the Phillies, it’s a deeper headline. The trade deadline is looming, and the front office knows it: this bullpen is a move away from October collapse.
Romano was supposed to help. Maybe he still will. But Tuesday night was a sharp reminder that in July, things break weird. And in Philly, you better have a bullpen that doesn’t.
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