Matt Strahm loses his scoreless appearance streak thanks to Rob Manfred

The Philadelphia Phillies hit a bit of a rough patch during the team's recent West Coast road trip, losing four out of six games to the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants. Wednesday's 6-1 win over the Giants helped snap a three-game losing streak, and the Phillies now return home for a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals that starts on Friday night.

One of the casualties of the tough road trip was reliever Matt Strahm's incredible run of scoreless appearances, which was closing in on two months.

Matt Strahm loses his scoreless appearance streak thanks to Rob Manfred

The left-hander Strahm put together one of the most dominant runs by a Phillies relief pitcher in recent memory when he recorded 21 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings over 21 appearances. But all good things come to an end, and Strahm found himself in a tough spot during Tuesday's extra-innings loss at the hands of the Giants.

Strahm was called upon to try to keep the Giants off the board on a 0-0 game in the bottom of the 10th. With the "ghost runner" starting the inning on second base, Strahm got two outs and allowed a walk. With runners on first and third, Giants outfielder Luis Matos hit a sacrifice fly to left fielder Brandon Marsh who was unable to throw out Tyler Fitzgerald at home, and the Giants walked off with a 1-0 victory.

Strahm took the tough luck loss and snapped his scoreless streak in the process. It's a tough break for Strahm, who hadn't been scored on since giving up two runs during a shaky performance on Opening Day versus the Atlanta Braves. The 21 scoreless appearances is the longest streak by a Phillies reliever since Hoby Milner's 21-outing streak in 2017.

While he wasn't his usual dominant self on the mound Tuesday, allowing a walk and not recording a strikeout, it was the latest reminder of how lame the ghost runner at second base in extra innings actually is. Also known as the "Manfred Man" (named after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred), the ghost runner had its uses during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to limit exposure.

However, its continued use some four years later is a travesty against baseball. In short, Rob Manfred is the reason Strahm's streak is now over.

All good players and baseball teams will hit a bump in the road at some point in a season. Hopefully, Strahm and the Phillies put the disappointing road trip in the rearview mirror as the team prepares for a slightly more difficult schedule in June, including a two-game series across the pond against the New York Mets on June 8-9 in the London Series.