Phillies manage to beat Red Sox in way that hasn’t been done in more than 50 years

The Philadelphia Phillies edged the Boston Red Sox on Monday night, 3-2, in 10 innings thanks to a bases-loaded catcher inference call that forced home the winning run. The incredible rare feat had not happen since 1971 at the Major League level.

The Red Sox in the road half of the 10th failed to take advantage of the automatic runner, which straightaway set up the Phillies in the home half. Reliever Jordan Hicks walked Otto Kemp and then loaded the bases with no outs via an intentional walk of Max Kepler. Loading the bases with no outs when one run beats you is a perilous proposition, but Sox manager Alex Cora opted to hope that setting up the force at every base and the plate would allow his team to pull off a minor miracle and force the game to the 11th.

Instead, though, catcher Carlos Narváez reached a bit too far to secure the outside 1-2 slider from Hicks, and he made contact with Edmundo Sosa’s bat. Sosa successfully checked his swing, which seemed to push the count to 2-2. Upon review, however, catcher interference was called, and automatic runner Brandon Marsh jogged home with the winning run. 

For those wondering, the fact that Sosa checked his swing and thus did not fully offer at Hicks’ pitch does not matter. Here’s how MLB explains the catcher interference rule (emphasis ours): 

“The batter is awarded first base if the catcher (or any other fielder) interferes with him at any point during a pitch.”

As the overhead view in the video above shows, Sosa’s bat clearly made contact with Narváez’s mitt, and so it was an easy call to make on review. 

As Sarah Langs notes, this is the first time since Aug. 1, 1971, that a team has won on a walk-off catcher interference call. On that day, the Dodgers nipped the Reds in 11 innings when the great Johnny Bench was called for interference with the bases loaded. 

As for this game, it was an important one for each team. The Phillies are locked in a tight struggle with the New York Mets for the NL East title. The Red Sox, meantime, are narrowly in wild-card position in the American League and also still harboring hopes of overtaking the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Remember this vanishingly rare way to decide a baseball game should any of those races by determined by a small margin.