The Phillies and Padres put together a first inning in Saturday’s game four that hadn’t been seen in 90 years.
Neither starting pitcher survived the first inning, which ended with the Padres leading 4-3, as San Diego chased Bailey Falter after just 0.2 innings of work, and the Philadelphia bats responded by knocking Mike Clevinger out of the game before he was able to record a single out.
That, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, was just the second time in MLB postseason history that neither pitcher made it out of the first inning, the first time it occurred since the Yankees and Cubs in game four of the 1932 World Series.
The madness began when Manny Machado drilled a solo home run to left center, putting his hand to his ear as he rounded the bases to egg on the Citizens Bank Park crowd that had been booing him as he stepped to the plate. A two-run Brandon Drury double and a Ha-Seong Kim single made it 4-0 before the Phillies had a chance to come to bat, but they wasted little time in mounting their comeback.
Rhys Hoskins immediately cut the deficit in half with a two-run blast off Mike Clevinger, and Bryce Harper tacked on another run with a deep RBI double to right center. Nick Martinez came on in relief to settle down the Phillies, but it was a brand new ballgame by the end of a wild first inning, one that many anticipated was possible give then pitching matchup.