Philadelphia Phillies: The Benefit of Catcher Interference
Philadelphia — For the third time in less than a month, the Philadelphia Phillies benefited from a catcher’s interference call.
In the first inning of their Tuesday victory over the Seattle Mariners, J.T. Realmuto was called out on strikes on a pitch from 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 usual catcher and MLB home run leader, Cal Raleigh, was in the lineup as the designated hitter.
The Phillies challenged the decision, and after a video review, it was determined that Garver’s glove interfered with Realmuto’s bat on the swing, and Realmuto was awarded first base.
Last month, when Boston was in Philadelphia, catcher Carlos Narváez 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 ground out by 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. Philadelphia ended up winning 6-4.
MLB set a record in 2024 for catcher interference calls with 100, surpassing the mark set a season before when there were 96 violations.
