LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t blink as the pressure built, inning after scoreless inning. Both teams pushed a single run across, forcing extra innings. Then came one of postseason baseball’s craziest endings.
Orion Kerkering made a wild throw past home instead of tossing to first after mishandling Andy Pages’ bases-loaded comebacker with two outs in the 11th inning, and the Dodgers escaped with a 2-1 win Thursday for a 3-1 NL Division Series victory.
“That was a nail-biter,” beer-soaked Dodgers catcher Will Smith said in the postgame celebration. “They cracked. We didn’t.”
Kerkering hung his head and put hands on knees after his throw sailed past catcher J.T. Realmuto as pinch-runner Hye Seong Kim crossed the plate, advancing the Dodgers to the NL Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee.
“I was surprised he threw it home,” Kim said through a translator. “I just ran as hard as I could.”
Realmuto had pointed to first when the broken-bat, two-hopper hit off Kerkering and rolled just in front of the mound.
“Just hit off my foot,” Kerkering said. “Once the pressure got to me, I just thought there’s a little faster throw to J.T., little quicker throw than trying to cross-body it to Bryce (Harper at first). So just a horses—- throw.”
Kerkering picked up the ball and in one motion made a sidearm throw, 46 feet from the plate. The ball sailed up the third-base line, past Realmuto’s outstretched mitt, and fans in the crowd of 50,563 at Dodger Stadium erupted after spending the final three innings on their feet. After originally running past the plate, Kim returned to touch it.
“It’s brutal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s one of those things that it’s a PFP, a pitcher’s fielding practice. He’s done it a thousand times. And right there he was so focused, I’m sure, on just getting the hitter and just sort of forgot the outs and the situation.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson wrapped an arm around Kerkering when the distraught 24-year-old reliever reached the dugout.
“He just got caught up in the moment a little bit,” Thomson said. “I feel for him because he’s putting it all on his shoulders.”
This was the second postseason series to end on a walk-off error, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Nine years to the day earlier, a wild relay throw by Texas second baseman Rougned Odor on a potential double-play grounder allowed Josh Donaldson to score and give Toronto a 7-6, 10-inning win and a three-game AL Division Series sweep.
Los Angeles ended a postseason series with a walk-off win for the third time after Bill Russell’s single against the Phillies in Game 4 of the 1978 NLCS and Chris Taylor’s homer in the 2021 NL wild card game.
“They held us at bay for eight innings and we just couldn’t push through there at the end,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said.
Nick Castellanos’ RBI double in the seventh off Emmet Sheehan had put the Phillies ahead but Jhoan Duran walked Mookie Betts with the bases loaded in the bottom half, forcing in the tying run.
Tommy Edman singled off Jesús Luzardo with one out in the 11th and took third on Max Muncy’s two-out single that eluded diving shortstop Trea Turner.
“It was very stressful the last few innings,” Edman said. “You knew that every little play meant that much more.”
Kerkering walked Kiké Hernández, loading the bases. Pages, in a 1-for-23 postseason slide, hit what appeared to be a routine grounder, the type every pitcher practices gloving from spring training on.
Philadelphia, wearing its powder blue throwback uniforms on the road for the second straight game, was knocked out in the Division Series for the second straight season while the defending World Series champion Dodgers reached the LCS for the eighth time in 13 years.
Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki, averaging 99.5 mph on his fastball, threw three innings of hitless relief, combining with Tyler Glasnow, Sheehan and winner Alex Vesia on a four-hitter.
“Just felt like my fastball velo was back to where it used to be, and the command of the fastball was where I wanted it to be as well,” Sasaki said through a translator. “Because of that I do really feel confident to be able to attack in zone.”
Glasnow allowed two hits and three walks in six innings with eight of the 12 strikeouts by Dodgers pitchers.
“It’s amazing,” Glasnow said. “Everyone contributed. It was a great game.”