The White Sox and Phillies turned a routine baseball game into chaos with a mix of late-inning strategy and mistakes. In extras, the Phillies tried to bunt a runner over, failed, then walked the next batter. That led to a pinch-running pitcher, since they’d already burned through more position players. When that guy popped out, the pitcher had to play the outfield, and an outfielder had to pitch. The Phillies didn’t want to use their starter again since he’d thrown 90 pitches recently.
Things got sloppy quick. A walk and an infield grounder turned into a throwing error. Abreu tried to take second and tweaked his knee in the process. With the game on the line, the left fielder turned emergency pitcher fielded a base hit and gunned the runner down at home with a one-hop strike. Next play, he fielded another hard grounder and helped end the inning with a diving stop at third.
In the following frame, a botched pickoff attempt turned into a highlight when the pitcher picked off a runner cleanly. Then came a misstep: a walk, followed by another shot to Abreu in the outfield. The Phillies tried to score again, and Abreu nearly threw out another runner at home. He missed by inches on a textbook slide. The White Sox finally got ahead, and the pitcher in left made a diving play to seal it. The Phillies couldn’t rally back. Chaos, weird lineups, and a pitcher saving the game in the outfield.