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Jimmy Rollins Broke Down the Phillies’ Baserunning on Ill-Fated Sac Bunt
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This is good from J Roll. It’s almost like he played the game at a high level for many years:
Again, none of this matters if the Phils just let Bryson Stott swing the bat with a runner on 2nd and no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Alternately, if they had diagnosed the aggressive wheel play on the first bunt showing, Stott could have pulled back and let it rip instead.
Either way, good explainer from Jimmy. Freddie Freeman was headed to second, eventually, but wasn’t an immediate threat there. Nick Castellanos didn’t get much of a jump at all on a non-force play. In hindsight, they could have pinch run for Castellanos, which would have put them in a tough spot with the hampered Harrison Bader coming up after Stott. They would have been out of usable outfielders and would have had to stick someone else out there if the game went to extras.
End of the day, they just couldn’t finish the comeback, this being just one of many underwhelming sequences.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com