The Philadelphia Phillies found a very creative way to win a game on Monday.
During Monday’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa., the Phillies earned the walkoff victory in the tenth inning. The walkoff came via [checks notes] a catcher interference call on [checks notes again] a non-swing.
Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa was at the plate in the bottom of the tenth inning with the score tied 2-2 and a ghost runner on third base. Sosa got a 1-2 offering from Boston’s Jordan Hicks and checked his swing on a pitch outside of the zone.
But the Phillies immediately called for a challenge on the play, believing that Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez had interfered with Sosa. Replay review confirmed the interference, and Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh, who was the ghost runner on third, was allowed to come home for the winning run.
Here is the video.
The Red Sox lose on a walk-off catcher's interference pic.twitter.com/1uGC7F5gO3
— Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken2) July 22, 2025
According to baseball writer Sarah Langs, that was the first walkoff catcher’s interference in MLB since 1971 during a Los Angeles Dodgers-Cincinnati Reds game (with Johnny Bench behind the plate for Cincinnati).
Needless to say, it is extremely unusual to see a walkoff in that manner, especially when the batter did not even technically swing on the pitch. But it was indeed the right call as Narvaez’s glove clearly did interfere with Sosa’s bat. Meanwhile, this has been the season of unusual walkoffs as earlier this month we also saw a walkoff feat that hadn’t happened in Major League Baseball for 99 years.
