Red Sox lose frustrating game to Phillies in bizarre and rare walk-off
The Boston Red Sox lost in a truly unique fashion Monday night, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies on a walk-off catcher's interference call in 10 innings. You can absolutely file it under "Things You Don't See Everyday," as it was just the second time a game has ended on a catcher's interference call since 1920, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
The Phillies had the bases loaded and no outs when Boston catcher Carlos Narváez interfered with Edmundo Sosa's check swing on a 2-2 slider from Jordan Hicks. It initially went unnoticed by the home plate umpire, but was sent to a review after Sosa plead his case at the plate.
According to the MLB rule books, a swing is not required for a catcher's interference penalty to come into play. So Narváez was hit with the infraction after a brief replay review, which plated ghost runner Brandon Marsh to give the Phillies a 3-2 victory.
Narváez believes Sosa attempted to check his swing late as the backstop tried to frame a strike for Hicks. He took full accountability for the play after the Red Sox loss.
"I just think he saw the pitch and in his mind thought to foul it off at the last moment. It was so late. It was late. I had the ball and then I felt the contact. It was really weird," explained Narváez. "I take accountability on that one. That can't happen."
Narváez said they have scouting reports on each hitter and how they stand at the plate, so he and Connor Wong know some batters require them to set up closer to the plate and others require them to set up further back. He said Sosa is somewhere in the middle.
"It sucks," said Narváez. "We don't want to lose a game, especially in that way."
Monday night was the seventh time this season the Red Sox have been called for catcher's interference, which leads the Majors. It capped off an overall rough night for Narváez, who was 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts and had a passed ball in the bottom of the fourth that eventually let the Phillies take a 2-1 lead.
As for a team walking off with a win on a catcher's interference call, the 2025 Phillies joined the 1971 Los Angeles Dodgers as the only teams in MLB history to win in such odd fashion. In the previous instance, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench was called for interference on an attempted straight steal of home.
Jordan Hicks couldn't find the plate
After using closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth and Garrett Whitlock in the ninth, Boston manager Alex Cora turned to Hicks to keep it a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 10th. But the fireballer couldn't find the strike zone,
Hicks walked leadoff man Otto Kemp on four erratic pitches, and then let him and ghost runner Marsh advance on an 86 mph slider that flew errantly behind Max Kepler. The Red Sox walked Kepler intentionally to load the bases, and Hicks actually got ahead of Sosa 0-2 when the batter watched two straight strikes.
A few pitches later, Hicks missed outside with a 1-2 slider, which is when Narváez was called for interference. Hicks threw 10 pitches on Monday, and only three of them went for strikes.
It stained an otherwise stellar night from Boston's pitching staff. Starter Walker Buehler gave the team seven strong innings and allowed just two runs (one earned) and struck out four. Chapman and Whitlock both put up zeros out of the bullpen to force extras.
What the Red Sox really needed Monday was some timely hitting.
Offensive woes for Red Sox
It's no surprise Boston only scored two runs off Zach Wheeler, but the Red Sox should have plated more against the Phillies ace. With a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, the Sox had runners on first and second and no outs for Alex Bregman, who grounded into a double play. Roman Anthony struck out to end the inning and leave Jarren Duran on second -- one of four strikeouts for the Boston rookie on the night.
In the top of the sixth, after Trevor Story tagged Wheeler for an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2, the ace struck out Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela to end the Boston threat. Overall, the Red Sox struck out 16 times in the loss.
The Red Sox once again came up empty in the top of the 10th, with Duran striking out, Bregman grounding out to third, and Anthony fanning again to leave Rob Refsnyder on the base paths. Boston was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position for the night.
It set the Phillies up for some odd walk-off dramatics, and dropped the Red Sox to 0-7 in extra-inning games on the road this season.
Good news for Red Sox in AL Wild Card race
After winning 10 straight ahead of the All-Star break, the Red Sox have now lost three of four since returning to action. But they got some help in the standings Monday night, as both the Yankees and the Mariners lost. New York remains two games up on both Boston and Seattle for the top AL Wild Card spot heading into Tuesday night's action. The Tampa Bay Rays also lost Monday, and remain 1.5 games back of the Red Sox and the Mariners.
While Monday's loss was certainly odd and frustrating for Boston, the beauty of baseball is the Red Sox get to play again less than 24 hours later. Boston will send Richard Fitts (1-3, 4.28 ERA) to the hill against Philadelphia lefty Christopher Sanchez (8-2, 2.50 ERA) Tuesday night.
