The Philadelphia Phillies managed to walk off with a win in incredibly rare fashion Monday thanks to an interference call at home plate.
In the bottom of the tenth inning of the Phillies’ game against the Red Sox, Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa was in the batter’s box with the bases loaded and no outs. With the count at 1-2, Sosa checked his swing to take an outside pitch from Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks. Immediately after taking the pitch, Sosa turned to the home plate umpire and pointed at Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez. It was clear that Sosa was insisting that Narvaez interfered on the previous pitch.
The replays showed on the broadcast made it clear that there was indeed interference.
“Oh wow! Wow!” NBC Sports Philadelphia announcer Tom McCarthy said. “Oh my goodness, there was! Oh my goodness!”
Analyst John Kruk added that the interference was “blatant.” The Phillies quickly challenged the play to force the umpires to review it.
“Narvaez is praying that they get this wrong,” Kruk added.
As the additional angles of the play were shown at Citizens Bank Park, the crowd could be heard reacting to the blatant interference. Then, the fans exploded into cheers when the umpires overturned the call and ruled it interference — awarding Sosa first base and bringing home the game-winning run.
“Wow!” McCarthy said. “The Phillies have won on a catcher’s
According to MLB sportswriter Sarah Langs, it was the first walk-off catcher’s interference the league had seen since 1971.
Watch above via NBC Sports Philadelphia.