Domonic Brown’s fielding gaffe costs Philadelphia Phillies in loss to Miami Marlins

Most of the season, Phillies fans have been concerned with Domonic Brown‘s poor hitting. We wondered what happened to the guy who hit 27 home runs and made the All-Star team in 2013. How did he deteriorate into one of the worst hitting outfielders in the National League?

Along the way, his hitting became such a focus that we sort of forgot that he’s a lousy fielder. On Wednesday night, he reminded us.

Brown’s misplay of a line drive in the fourth inning led to three runs by the Marlins and helped waste a fine effort by starting pitcher A. J. Burnett.

Even though the ball was ruled a hit, Brown admitted that it was a play that he needs to make:

"“That play has to be made. I told A.J. I was sorry about it. It was a hard-hit line drive. I made a break on it in and that definitely was a big mistake. I’m definitely upset at myself.”"

The Marlins tried to return the favor in the fifth inning. Second baseman Derek Dietrich committed a throwing error which looked like it would lead to a big inning by the Phillies. But despite having the bases loaded with one out, they could only manage to score one run.

That was a theme of the night. The Phillies got their share of runners in scoring position, but aside from a Chase Utley sacrifice fly and a single by Brown, they couldn’t get the runners home. The end result was a 3-2 loss.

The Phillies will look to salvage a series split on Thursday behind Cole Hamels. Hamels hasn’t gotten much run support this season, so hopefully they can find a way to get some of those base runners home tonight.

It would also help if they could avoid any major fielding mistakes, but that should go without saying.