Archie Bradley came in down a run in the bottom of the eighth and immediately found himself in a standoff with Juan Soto. From the first pitch, it turned into a battle over tempo. Soto fouled off an off-speed pitch, then started taking strolls between pitches, sniffing his bat and slowing things down. Bradley tried to keep his rhythm, working quickly, but Soto kept calling timeout, clearly trying to disrupt him.
At one point, Bradley went into his delivery for a curveball and Soto called time again. The umpire granted it just as Bradley’s leg was coming down. He finished the pitch anyway, but both he and Phillies manager Joe Girardi were frustrated. They felt the time should not have been granted mid-delivery. Still, the curveball exposed what pitch they were about to throw, so they switched it up and went outside with a fastball.
The whole at-bat was a mind game. Soto made clear he wanted to control the pace. Bradley tried to stay composed but looked visibly irritated. The umpire, Jim Wolf, was caught in the middle. No big hit happened, but it was a great example of how deep the batter-pitcher chess match can go when both sides are locked in.