Juan Soto slammed into a wall and landed with a fly ball in the right field corner: The first time he pitched in the Phillies left field
“It was a little tricky today,” Grisham said. It is best if we communicate with each other, know where the help is, and hope that it doesn’t get away at the last second.
In the next inning, though, the Padres’ Juan Soto was all alone in the right field corner. He lost a fly ball in the sun, helping the Phillies to a four-run inning. The first time they lost a game after leading by four runs, it was in the playoffs.
The Padres chased the Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola with a barrage of hits in the 37-minute bottom half of the fifth inning, including a critical one by Nola’s brother, Austin, the San Diego catcher. In the end it was 8-5 Padres, and the team’s Swingin’ Friar mascot rang the Mission Bell, out near the left field foul pole, after the last out.
The play was especially vital because, had McCormick not made the catch, Realmuto, who had an inside-the-park home run in a division series against Atlanta, would have been on second base, at least, with Harper ready to crush.
As he rose up like a basketball player going for a slam, the ball went towards his glove and vanished when he slammed into the wall. He bounced off it and landed spread eagle on his back on the warning track, with his glove on his right hand up in the air.
The catch was obvious to anyone watching it on TV but the people in the stadium were not sure if he caught it. He loved it when the stadium was at his command.
“Looking at them, it kind of like brought me back when I was 10 years old, when the Phillies lost in the World Series 2009,” McCormick said through his slight Philly accent, in a mixture of sympathy and joy. “It was weird. It felt like a dream when I was laying there, looking at those fans.”
Nick Castellanos, the right fielder for thePhillies, has had several defensive highlights this postseason, and he thinks it was an incredible catch. That isn’t a soft wall and also his willingness to sacrifice his body.