Phillies Lose Walk-Off Inside-The-Park HR at San Francisco

The Philadelphia Phillies suffered a rare and painful loss to the San Francisco Giants on July 8 when Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run, the first by a catcher in nearly a century and the first such walk-off in MLB since 2016. Bailey's deep fly ball struck the brick wall in right-center at Oracle Park, causing a tricky carom that Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh could not recover from, allowing Bailey to score and give the Giants a 4-3 victory. Despite a strong effort from Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker and a go-ahead homer from Kyle Schwarber earlier in the game, the Phillies bullpen faltered in the ninth inning as reliever Jordan Romano allowed the tying and winning runs. This loss marked the Phillies' fifth walk-off defeat of the season and extended their poor record at Oracle Park, where they have lost 18 of their last 21 games. Manager Rob Thomson and players expressed frustration, noting the rarity and difficulty of such a loss while acknowledging the ongoing struggles of the team's offense and pitching. The game tightened the NL East race, with the Phillies tied for first place alongside the New York Mets heading into the MLB All-Star break.