Toe pick: Phils win on controversial call
Monday’s game vs. Mets postponed; doubleheader Tuesday
After six games in the first 11 days of a new season, this is what separates the Phillies and the Braves.
A toenail.
Alec Bohm’s toenail, to be specific. The Phillies’ big third baseman was called safe by the length of his big toe on a controversial ninth-inning play at the plate that proved decisive Sunday night. The Phillies avoided a return favor of their three-game sweep of the Braves last week at Citizens Bank Park with a comefrom-behind 7-6 victory after they trailed by three runs in the first inning.
In a game that had seemingly everything, including a trade of late-game solo home runs by superstars Bryce Harper and Ronald Acuna Jr., it came down to a 230-foot fly ball to left field, a throw to the plate, and Bohm getting a toe on the plate before Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud was able to apply the tag, at least according to home-plate umpire Lance Barrett and replay officials who upheld his call.
“It looked like [Bohm’s] big toe kind of hit the corner of the plate,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s what we saw when we looked at the angles.”
It was a gutsy decision by third-base coach Dusty Wathan to send Bohm. But the Phillies wanted to test Braves left fielder Marcell Ozuna’s throwing arm, and it paid off. Home-plate umpire Lance Barrett called Bohm safe on the field, and a video review confirmed the call to the disgust of Atlanta manager Brian Snitker and the announced crowd of 14,221 at Truist Park.
The Phillies rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the first inning. The Braves came back from a 5-3 deficit in the fifth. Harper gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Acuna tied it at 6 in the seventh.
If this game had been played in September rather than on the second Sunday of the season, it would’ve been a taut, gut-churner fit for a pennant race.
Phillies and Braves fans should be so
lucky six months from now..
The Braves ambushed Phillies starter Matt Moore in every which way.
On his first pitch of the game, Acuña beat out a routine grounder to shortstop for an infield single. On his second, Ozzie Albies cranked a two-run homer. Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson notched consecutive two-out hits, and the Braves led, 3-0.
But Moore survived, and the Phillies went to work on Braves starter Drew Smyly. It began in the second inning with J.T. Realmuto, who slashed a double past third baseman Austin Riley, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly. Rhys Hoskins led off the fourth with a nine-pitch at-bat that ended in a homer to shave the deficit to 3-2.
Girardi dropped Didi Gregorius to seventh in the order with Smyly on the mound because he went 1-for-10 with six strikeouts against lefties through eight games. Naturally, then, it was Gregorius who came to the plate in the fourth inning after Bohm and Jean Segura delivered two-out singles.
Gregorius fouled off consecutive fastballs, then got a curveball in the middle of the plate and pulled it on a line to right field to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.
The Braves got back within one run in their fourth inning when Cristian Pache doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly, then tied it in the fifth on Freddie Freeman’s leadoff homer.
Monday’s game vs. Mets postponed
Monday’s game between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies was postponed due to rain and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader for Tuesday.
The single-admission doubleheader will start at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday, and the second game will start about 30 minutes after the first game ends.
The rainout follows a miscue by the Mets ballpark operations staff, which pushed ahead with a game against Miami on Sunday afternoon, only to have umpires waive the teams off the field seven minutes later — home teams make decisions regarding delays before games start, but once they’re under way, that power transfers to the umpires.
Marcus Stroman started that game for New York and threw just nine pitches. He tweeted his unhappiness to have wasted his turn in the rotation.