Wednesday marked the second night in a row the Phillies committed a cringeworthy baserunning blunder.
With Trea Turner at the plate against Dodgers lefty Eric Lauer in the bottom of the fifth inning, Bryson Stott, who started the play at second base, ran into an out at third, where Max Muncy waited for him on the fielder’s choice.
The gaffe was so exasperating that Dodgers SportsNet commentators Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser were left bemused.
“What are these guys doing?” Davis said as Stott ran off.
“No clue,” Hershiser replied.
The very next frame, the Dodgers took the lead, one they would hold onto for the rest of the night in a 9-5 win in Philadelphia.
On Tuesday, the Phillies lost 2-1 on an embarrassing double play.
J.T. Realmuto was the last out after he failed to make it back to second base safely when he could have just remained at third base when Justin Crawford, the runner in front of him, got into a rundown between third and home.
His manager, Don Mattingly, didn’t mince words after the bizarre moment.
“I don’t know what JT was thinking,” Mattingly said.
The Dodgers took two of three in the series from the Phillies after the baserunning mistakes came on consecutive nights.
The Phillies won the first game of the series with a 10-7 win on Monday night.
Despite the mistake on the bases, Stott is still having a strong season for the Phillies. Through 96 games, Stott has hit .251 with seven home runs and 17 steals.
The Phillies will hope to be better on the fundamentals when they welcome the Yankees to Citizens Bank Park for a three-game set this weekend.
They’ll face the Bombers’ Will Warren, Cy Young contender Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers in the series.
