Trea Turner took one casual step back from home plate as a slider in the dirt kicked away from the catcher.
Next thing he knew, the Phillies won the game.
“I wasn’t sure [Bryson] Stott was coming home at first, so I was kind of standing right there,” Turner said Tuesday night after a 7-6 victory over the Nationals that made absolutely no sense. “I was probably a little too close, but just a heads up baseball play by him.”
Heads up and disorienting. Also, far more difficult than it ever needed to be.
To recap: The Phillies led 3-0 for five innings behind Zack Wheeler, 3-2 in the eighth when José Alvarado got into and out of a bases-loaded mess with nobody out, and 5-3 with the Nationals down to their final strike. But Orion Kerkering left a low sweeper over the plate for Nathaniel Lowe to golf a go-ahead three-run homer.
The Phillies rallied against Kyle Finnegan. Johan Rojas fouled off three pitches, laid off a splitter in the dirt, and hit a game-tying sacrifice fly before Stott’s winning dash brought 38,387 paying customers to their feet.
Crazy, right? And we didn’t even mention Bryce Harper‘s bunt single. Seriously.
But here’s the thing: Neither the ninth-inning comeback nor the Houdini act in the eighth by Alvarado, who struck out three batters to leave the bases filled, would’ve been necessary if only the Phillies — Turner, in particular, at shortstop but also Rojas in center field — didn’t give away outs.
And it wasn’t one bad game, either. Entering the game, the Phillies saved 13 runs less than average, 27th in the majors, according to Sports Info Solutions, and ranked 23rd in defensive wins above replacement.
It’s a recurring theme: The Phillies are giving opponents too many outs.
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“Yeah, of course,” Turner said. “I feel like earlier on we were playing good defense — or, I guess I should speak more to myself. But lately it feels like we’re making those little mistakes. You give the other team any hope, and next thing you know, they’re right back in it.”
Take, for instance, the ninth inning against the Nationals. With one out and the Phillies leading 5-3, Amed Rosario hit a grounder to Turner, who backhanded the ball and let loose a high floater to first. Rosario was safe, setting up Lowe’s homer.
“I should’ve honestly thrown it harder,” Turner said. “I kind of just secured the ball and tried to make an easy throw because I knew I had some time, and I probably just should have thrown it harder, let it rip a little bit more, and probably would have made my throw.”
One inning earlier, with the Phillies leading 3-2, runners on first and third, and the infield in, Turner gloved Lowe’s grounder in front of second base but didn’t step on the bag. Instead, he tried to get the out at home but sailed his throw wide.
“It was the right play,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s just, it wasn’t a very good throw.”
The gaffes, given the situations in which they happened, almost outweighed Turner’s four hits.
Rojas notched two hits, including a rare homer in the third inning. He went deep for the first time since July 13 of last season to open a 3-0 lead after Kyle Schwarber‘s two-run first-inning blast. Rojas scored two runs, even running through third base coach Dusty Wathan’s stop sign in the eighth inning.
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But a defensive miscue in the third inning forced Wheeler to throw 12 extra pitches. Rojas drifted back on CJ Abrams’ deep fly ball, which sailed over his head and went for a triple.
Wheeler got out of the inning without allowing a run, but the play may have prevented him from getting deeper in the game. He was lifted after 106 pitches with two out in the seventh inning.
Known for his elite defense, Rojas misjudged a ball in center field Sunday night at Wrigley Field that led to a run against Aaron Nola.
“I’m not concerned,” Thomson said. “I think he needs to keep it simple, make the plays he’s supposed to make. But I’m not concerned. We’ll take care of that. He’s a great defender.”
Said Rojas: “I have to catch those balls. I just put it in my mind that I have to catch the next one. The next one’s going to me, so I have to catch it.”
As a team, the Phillies aren’t catching enough balls that they should. It didn’t doom them in the opener against the Nationals, although it forced them to expend far too much energy.
Look no further than Stott, who stayed down on his belly for a few beats after scoring the winning run to make sure his left hand was intact after Finnegan stepped on it.
“We’ve got to clean it up,” Thomson said. “We really do.”
