A controversial sixth-inning call at third base ended up opening the floodgates for the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
After the Phillies’ Alec Bohm opened the top of the sixth inning with a double, Brandon Marsh laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded cleanly by Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Kiké Hernández, who wheeled to nail Bohm at third base. But third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt called Bohm safe and ruled that Miguel Rojas committed defensive interference on the play, drawing the ire of the Dodgers and leading to manager Dave Roberts’ ejection.
“He missed the call,” Roberts told reporters postgame of Wendelstedt. “This might be the first time I’ve ever said that – it was an egregious missed call. Their job’s hard. That changed the game.”
The ejection was Roberts’ first of the season.
“It needs to be reviewable,” Roberts said. “That play changed the complexion of the game, and he got it wrong. That’s just the fact. Umpiring is hard. They do a great job. Tonight, that play affected the game.”
From there, everything unraveled for the Dodgers. Reliever Joe Kelly entered the game and ended up being charged with three of the Phillies’ five runs scored in the sixth. The final blow came on a three-run homer by Kyle Schwarber – his second of the contest – that opened up a four-run Philadelphia lead.
“It was very unfortunate, and it determined the outcome of tonight’s game, in my opinion,” Roberts said. “I’ve never said one play is the result of a game, but this play changed the outcome of tonight’s game.”
Philadelphia won 9-4.
