After a game in which the Philadelphia Phillies felt they were robbed behind the plate on Monday night, they felt pretty good going into ninth inning with a two-run cushion on Tuesday. However, a hit and a bobble later, San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hit a ball off the wall that experienced an unfathomable carom. With it, he became the first catcher in almost a century to hit a walk-off-inside-the-park homer, and sent the Phillies back into the depths.
Kyle Schwarber had launched his 28th home run of the season into McCovey Cove to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. Jordan Romano was handed the ball to obtain the final five outs of the contest. He was only able to get three.
Casey Schmitt doubled to left field in the ninth, then Wilmer Flores singled off the glove of Brandon Marsh in center field. What happened next was improbable - something that happens maybe once in a century.
The first catcher in 99 YEARS to hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4ELwmbOODm
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 9, 2025
Catcher Patrick Bailey makes history, stuns the Phillies in the ninth.
Patrick Bailey of the San Francisco Giants became the first catcher in 99 years to hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run. His drive to right-center field hit off the top of the wall, 414 feet away from home plate. It immediately bounced straight to the left, turning Marsh around and sending him chasing.
“You could play 100 more years here, and I don’t think a ball hits right there on that spot,” Marsh said, per MLB.com. The Phillies had a 93.2% chance of winning in the top of the ninth inning. Oh, how quickly things can change.
The Phillies have now dropped the first two games of their trip out west. Jesús Luzardo will match up against future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander as the Phillies try to avoid the sweep. Then, they'll have an off day before taking on the Padres in San Diego. The Phillies are now tied atop the NL East with the New York Mets.
After a game like that, it's hard not to think about what could've been, and the wasted east-coast hours expended just to watch a complete bout of inanity before the final out could be recorded. But, of course, that's baseball - every 100 years or so.