How two plays proved costly in Miami Marlins’ walk-off loss to Philadelphia Phillies

Brian Anderson slouched into his seat in front of his locker, his head looking up at the ceiling as he stewed over his late gaffe that ultimately led to the game-winning run. Nick Fortes was slightly more animated, throwing his glove into his locker as the frustration a game that had ended about a half-hour prior — and a specifically an overturned play in the sixth inning — boiled over.

The Miami Marlins have had their share of tough losses in this lost 2022 season, one in which they hoped would be competitive and potentially end with a chase for the playoffs.

Add Tuesday’s 3-2, walk-off loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park — Miami’s 10th walk-off defeat of the season — to the list.

“Teams that are losing a lot, that’s the kind of things that happen to you in this kind of game,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly, whose team is now 55-79 and has lost eight consecutive games and 14 of their last 17. “When you’re winning, you get the other side of that.”

Phillies second baseman Jean Segura had the game-winning hit, a one-out single to right-center field against Tommy Nance that scored Bryce Harper from second base.

But it was how Harper got on base that had Anderson frustrated.

Harper skied a routine fly ball down the left-field line, shaking his head as he watched what should have been an easy out fly through the air. Anderson was playing deep, trying to keep any ball hit his way in front of him. He tracked the ball and raced down the line, getting in a position to make the play.

Only Anderson slipped as he got to the left-field line. The ball bounced just beyond his glove. Harper then beat the tag from Jon Berti at second base and scored the game-winning run two pitches later.

“I got over there and thought I could make a play on it,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it or keep him from getting to second and that was what ended up costing us the game.”

Three innings before that, another key play went against the Marlins as a play at the plate was overturned from an inning-ending double play to a sacrifice fly.

The Phillies had runners on the corners and one out in the sixth when Alec Bohm hit a deep fly ball to left field. Anderson made the catch. Edmundo Sosa, who was on third base after leading off the inning with a double and moving up 90 feet on a wild pitch, broke for home plate.

Anderson then fired the ball to Fortes at home plate. According to Statcast, the throw was clocked at 95.5 mph. Fortes made the catch and applied the tag on Sosa for what was initially ruled an inning-ending double play.

The Phillies challenged and the call was overturned, with umpires citing MLB’s home-plate collision rule and saying that Fortes was in the runner’s lane for the change.

According to MLB’s definition of the rule, “The catcher is not permitted to block the runner’s path to the plate unless he is in possession of the ball, though blocking the path of the runner in a legitimate attempt to receive a throw is not considered a violation. The runner can be ruled safe if the umpire determines the catcher violated this rule.”

“I would disagree,” Mattingly said of the overturn. “I know they’re cracking down on it from the standpoint of where guys are setting up. [Fortes] looks like he’s on the inside of the line. He’s got a plate to slide to.”

Fortes called the decision an “unfortunate situation,” noting the throw took him up the line and that he “stepped in front, grabbed the ball and made the tag.”

“That’s just the rules,” Fortes said. “You’ve got to give him a lane. Just kind of a sucky situation.”

Is there anything Fortes thought he could have done differently?

“No,” he said. “I thought I set up fine. It’s just once I saw where the ball was going, I just took a step back and it just happened to be right in front of the base.”

Outside of those two plays, Jesus Luzardo pitched seven strong innings, allowing just two runs — the sixth-inning play and a home run to Sosa in the third inning — while striking out nine batters. In seven starts since coming off the injured list in early August, Luzardo has pitched to a 2.91 ERA with 41 strikeouts against 11 walks over 43 1/3 innings.

Anderson drove in both of Miami’s runs with a single up the middle in the fourth that scored Joey Wendle and a sacrifice fly in the eighth that scored Charles Leblanc.

The Marlins had a chance to score the go-ahead run in the ninth. Garrett Cooper led off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Luke Williams. After a Fortes strikeout, Williams was caught stealing when JJ Bleday had a 3-0 count for second out of inning. Bleday proceeded to walk and Rojas hit a single — his second hit of the game — but both were stranded when Leblanc hit an inning-ending flyout to center field.