J.T. Realmuto exits in ninth inning of Phillies’ walk-off loss
The Phillies lost their catcher in the bottom of the ninth inning, and then they lost the game. Realmuto exited late on Wednesday night after taking a foul ball to the groin area in the Phillies’ 2-1 walk-off loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
After a foul ball off the bat of Bo Bichette forced Realmuto out of the game in favor of backup Rafael Marchán to start the frame, reliever Jordan Romano, a Canadian native and former Blue Jay, allowed a game-winning hit off the wall in right-center field to Alejandro Kirk.
“Definitely a lot of emotion coming here,” Romano said. “Got on the mound focused. I felt good. Stuff felt good. Obviously, not good enough. I felt pretty dialed in, just focusing on my pitches.”
Rob Thomson said after the game that Realmuto was being checked out by the doctor. Realmuto was seen walking around the visiting clubhouse.
Realmuto tried to stay in, but Thomson made the call to replace him in the ninth inning with Rafael Marchan.
“It’s a pretty good one,” Thomson said. “He said he has had worse.”
The Philadelphia loss wasted another stellar appearance from rookie starter Mick Abel.
Abel, back up with the Phillies and making the second start of his career, dealt once again. He threw 5 1/3 innings and allowed only one run on three hits. He did not walk a single batter and has not issued a base on balls in his two major-league starts.
Working with an early lead after Nick Castellanos hit a home run in the top of the second inning off José Berríos, Abel didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning when Bichette hit an RBI triple into the left-center gap that Brandon Marsh failed to come up with as he made a sliding attempt. Reliever Orion Kerkering entered with one out to strand Bichette at third.
Former Phillie Jeff Hoffman, now pitching for Toronto, got the last out in the top of the ninth, setting up Romano’s chance to keep things tied against his former team. The Blue Jays got a run across as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled, stole second and scored on Kirk’s hit. Romano took the loss in his first game back in Toronto, while Hoffman was credited with the win over Philadelphia.
Destiny Lugardo contributed to this report.