Phillies Benefitted by Catcher Interference for the Third Time
For the third time in less than a month, the Philadelphia Phillies benefited from a catcher’s interference call.
In the first at-bat of his Tuesday game against the Seattle Mariners, J.T. Realmuto was called out on strikes on a pitch by Bryce Miller that would have ended the inning.
However, Realmuto argued that his swing was interfered with by Seattle catcher Mitch Garver, who was behind the plate while the starting catcher and MLB home run leader, Cal Raleigh, was in the lineup as the designated hitter.
The Phillies challenged the call, and after a video review, it was determined that Garver’s glove interfered with Realmuto’s bat in the swing, so Realmuto was awarded first base.
Last month, when Boston was in Philadelphia, catcher Carlos Narvaez was called for interference in consecutive games, in both cases allowing a run to score, one of them to end a game in extra innings. It was the first catcher interference for a walk-off since 1971.
This time, there was no damage, as Miller induced a fielder’s choice out of Alec Bohm on the first pitch after the review, ending the inning with Seattle losing 1-0 thanks to Kyle Schwarber’s 44th home run, leader of the National League.
MLB set a record in 2024 for catcher interference calls with 100, breaking the mark set a season before when there were 96 violations.
