‘I have to catch it’: Johan Rojas takes blame for miscommunication in Phillies’ 7-5 loss at the Braves
Edmudo Sosa, making his first start in the outfield, and Rojas had a moment of confusion in the second inning that led to an Austin Riley double, which snowballed with a three-run homer.
ATLANTA — Sharing the outfield for the first time ever, Edmundo Sosa and Johan Rojas converged on a routine fly ball in center field.
It was Rojas’ ball, and as he settled underneath it, Sosa called out to his center fielder: “Tua, tua, tua.” Yours, yours, yours.
A novice outfield communication mistake by Sosa — who shouldn’t have said anything at all — turned into a bigger mistake by Rojas. A split-second of confusion ensued, and the ball dropped right at Rojas’ feet. It was ruled a double for Austin Riley.
“That ball is mine. I have to catch it. There’s no excuse,” Rojas said.
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The miscommunication, which came in the second inning, wasn’t the sole reason the Phillies lost, 7-5, to the Braves on Tuesday. It may not have even been the main reason. But it ultimately snowballed into three runs scoring on Zack Wheeler in the frame, after he allowed a walk to Jarred Kelenic and Sean Murphy got ahold of his sweeper for a three-run homer.
“Rojas is a captain out there, and he’s got to take charge,” said manager Rob Thomson. “He’s got priority. And so we talked to him about it, especially, you know, [Sosa’s] playing left field for the first time in his life.”
Wheeler said he was most mad at himself for not being able to pick up his teammates after the blunder.
“Things like that happen, you’ve got to keep the focus,” Wheeler said. “I’ve been doing it for a while now and stuff like that’s happened over my career. So you kind of take pride as a pitcher, [and say] all right, ‘I’m going to get us out of this.’ And it just didn’t happen tonight.”
Wheeler didn’t feel his sharpest overall. His velocity was down a tick and he didn’t have the best command of his sweeper, including the one to Murphy. In what was billed a heavyweight battle between Wheeler and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, neither put on their strongest performance, and both were charged with five earned runs.
The bullpens ultimately made the difference. The Phillies failed to score a run on the Braves’ relievers, while Atlanta scored a run apiece on Orion Kerkering and Tanner Banks.
Sale’s velocity was also down a tick Tuesday, and the Phillies tagged him for nine hits, tied for the most he’s allowed with Atlanta. Three consecutive two-out singles from Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos cashed in a run in the first inning.
“We put some really good at-bats off against Sale,” Thomson said. “You score five runs off of that guy. That’s hard to do. And Castellanos and Schwarber had big nights, and we grinded.”
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Trea Turner and Bryce Harper led off the third with back-to-back singles and advanced on a double steal. Schwarber hit a rocket off the outfield wall that bounced out of reach of Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, giving Schwarber enough time to slide into third for a bases-clearing triple. A double from Castellanos then brought Schwarber home.
The Phillies added another run on a Schwarber solo moon-shot homer in the fifth. He sent Sale’s four-seam 462 feet to right field. He finished a double shy of the cycle after walking in the seventh inning.
Wheeler held off the Braves until the sixth inning, when Atlanta strung together three consecutive singles to plate another run. Wheeler then walked the nine-hole hitter, Orlando Arcia, which ended his night.
“You’re in the big leagues, so it doesn’t necessarily matter top or bottom,” Wheeler said. “Anytime you walk guys it’s not what you want to do.”
Matt Strahm took over with the bases loaded and the Braves tied things up on a sacrifice fly, before Strahm escaped the inning with a strikeout. The Braves took a 6-5 lead on Kerkering, who allowed two walks and a double, and added an insurance run on Banks.
Sosa finished 0-for-3 at the plate, but made an impression in his first start in the outfield of his career. In the first inning, he leaped up against the left-field wall to rob a home run from Marcell Ozuna. In the third inning, he overran a fly ball hit by Matt Olson, but was able to backtrack in time to make the out.
He said it was the first time he’s fielded a fly ball from a left-handed hitter, and had to adjust to the spin coming off the bat.
“I tried to go out there, have fun and keep my mind and body on the game,” Sosa said through a team interpreter. “At the end of the day, we missed that play and Wheels was having a great game. This is the big leagues, we have to make that play all the time, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first play of the game, last play of the game, the inning or the score, we’ve got to execute all those plays.