John Kruk, Phillies announcer overtook John Kruk, national announcer for a moment Thursday night.
After Bryce Harper whiffed on a two-strike offering in the eighth inning of Philadelphia’s 6-2 loss in Game 3, the ball scooted away from catcher Drake Baldwin.
Harper did not immediately realize that he could run, though, and proceeded to bend down to begin taking off his shin guard — and then saw his mistake.
“Run!” Kruk said on the NBC broadcast before Harper began lightly jogging to first base.
Play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian continued: “Ball gets away from Baldwin. Harper didn’t realize it until rather late in the game and is unable to take advantage.”
Harper would be thrown out at first to end the eighth inning, and three outs later the Phillies’ offseason officially began earlier than anyone on the team would have liked.
While the odds of reaching on such a play are low, Yankees rookie Spencer Jones did so Wednesday night against the Red Sox and helped turn Game 2 into a blowout win.
After he fanned against lefty Garrett Crochet, the ball got away from Red Sox catcher Adley Rutschman and Jones ran hard to first base, just beating the throw in a 2-1 game.
The Yankees ultimately scored six runs in the inning to take an 8-1 lead and all but end the Red Sox season, with the opportunistic play looming large.
The Phillies had no such luck and now enter the offseason with plenty of question marks about this group’s ceiling.
Since losing to the Astros in the 2022 World Series, the NL East squad has bowed out in the NLCS, NLDS, NLDS and now the wild-card round in successive years.
The lineup is top-heavy, with Harper and Kyle Schwarber as the anchors, but both will be in their age-34 seasons next year.
Shortstop Trea Turner is already regressing and under contract for seven more seasons, and some of the team’s younger players have not developed as expected.
The team is expected to move on from manager Don Mattingly and replaced him with former Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was fired earlier this year.
Kruk is a color analyst for the team’s NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcasts and is known for his colorful stories after his 10-season career that featured six with the franchise.
