Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jordan Romano blew his third save in excruciating fashion Tuesday night, giving up a walk-off inside-the-park three-run home run to catcher Patrick Bailey in the San Francisco Giants' 4-3 win.
The last time a catcher hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run? You have to go back 99 years to Aug. 11, 1926 when Washington Senators catcher Bennie Tate did it against the New York Yankees .
It's been a rough year for Romano, a two-time All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays , after signing a one-year, $8.5 million deal. He now has a 7.44 ERA in 36 appearances.
After the crushing loss, The Athletic's Phillies reporter Matt Gelb wrote that Romano "sounded broken."
"Get on a decent roll, then it's a big bad outing," Romano told reporters. "Get on a decent roll, another big bad outing. So it's kind of just been super frustrating. Just not getting on a roll. I'll feel really good for a little bit and then it's a bad one. It's just how it's going."
Because of Jose Alvarado 's 80-game PED suspension, manager Rob Thomson has had to use Romano where he most likely would've had the lefty flamethrower on the mound. Alvarado is scheduled to come back in late August but is prohibited from pitching in the postseason this year if the Phillies make it that far.
The Phillies bullpen has been a black hole this season. Philadelphia's relievers rank 23rd in ERA at 4.42 and 24th in batting average allowed at .257. If the Phillies want to get back to the World Series, they need to add at least two high-leverage relievers at the trade deadline. If not, it will be another long offseason.
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