Trailing by 10 runs early, the Phillies fought almost all the way back against the Braves Sunday night to trim the deficit to two. They even put the tying run on base to begin the bottom of the ninth.
Joe Girardi wasn't allowed to see it through.
Girardi was ejected for the first time as Phillies manager in the top of the ninth. He came out to ask the umpires to confer after a groundball down the first-base line from Ender Inciarte was ruled foul. The ball did appear to be fair but the umpires ruled that Inciarte fouled it off of his foot.
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Girardi was ejected quickly by second base umpire Bill Welke. After the game, a frustrated Girardi said it was undeserved.
"I was asking them to talk about it, they can't review it," he said. "None of them disagreed with (first base umpire Roberto Ortiz). I said the hitter told you everything you needed to know. He started to run. And then he was on their side when they were talking about it, a left-handed hitter.
"I was surprised I got thrown out. There have been a lot of ejections, and of the 30-something I've had, I have deserved most of them, maybe all of them. But tonight, I didn't deserve to get tossed for what I said and I'm pretty frustrated by it."
Inciarte made an out on the next pitch but Girardi was back in his office by then. The Phillies lost the game, 12-10, after taking the first two in the series.
MLB
"If the guy fouled it off of his foot, I don't think he's gonna run to first," said Didi Gregorius, who homered and tripled. "So I was a little bit surprised. It caught me off-guard.
"He always has the players' backs. That's what you want to see from a manager."