Phillies

Joe Girardi Survives Embarrassing Lineup Card Mistake as Phillies Beat Brewers

The Phillies' sloppiness in the field extended into the dugout Tuesday as an embarrassing lineup card gaffe nearly cost them a win. But they still managed to beat the Brewers 6-5.

Girardi survives embarrassing lineup card mistake as Phillies win 2 in a row originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The sloppiness that the Phillies have shown on the field this season extended into the dugout Tuesday night as an embarrassing lineup card gaffe nearly cost them a win.

In the end, manager Joe Girardi and the Phillies saved face with a 6-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.

The win evened the Phillies' record at 15-15. It marked the first time that the often sloppy, consistently inconsistent team has won back-to-back games since the third and fourth games of the season, a span of 24 games.

But instead of the postgame focus being on the modest winning streak, it was on the dugout mistake that came to light in the top of the seventh inning.

Aaron Nola completed six innings of work and now Girardi was going to the bullpen with a five-run lead. He called upon Enyel De Los Santos for the top of the seventh inning, but De Los Santos, called up earlier in the day, was not listed on the umpires' official lineup card and therefore was ruled ineligible after he trotted in from the bullpen.

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Milwaukee ended up scoring four runs in the inning against a pair of Phillies relievers.

Hard-throwing Sam Coonrod ended up saving the day — and Girardi's bacon — by getting the final two outs in the eighth and three in the ninth to preserve the one-run victory. Coonrod got the final out of the game with runners on the corners.

Nola had an interesting night in which he battled command issues but managed to hold the Brewers to one run over six innings.

Nola allowed a double, a single and two walks in the first inning but gave up just one run in the frame. He needed 30 pitches to complete the inning and got the final out with the bases loaded.

Nola allowed just one baserunner over the next four innings and benefitted from a pair of solo homers by Andrew McCutchen, an RBI base hit by Alec Bohm and a three-run homer by Brad Miller in taking a 6-1 lead into the sixth inning.

With his pitch count rising above 100, Nola allowed two hits to open the sixth inning and he hit a batter with one out to load the bases. With the pressure on, Nola got a fly ball and a strikeout (a 94-mph fastball on his 114th pitch) to keep the Brewers from scoring.

Asking the bullpen to get nine outs on a night when Hector Neris (he threw 40 pitches Monday night) and Jose Alvarado (he was serving the final game of a two-game suspension) were not available was going to be a tall task to begin with.

It got a little taller what the Phillies' dugout brain trust was flagged by the umpires from bringing into the game a pitcher who was not on the lineup card.

De Los Santos was called up from Triple A earlier in the day. The transaction was announced to the media at 5:19 p.m. and his name was on the lineup cards that were distributed in the press box.

Why his name did not make it on the official lineup card that was given to the umpires before the first pitch was not immediately known.

The blunder reflected poorly on Girardi, who in the ensuing moments watched his team's five-run lead shrink to one. 

De Los Santos was told to leave the field as he arrived at the mound for his warmups. He was replaced by David Hale, who allowed the first three batters of the inning to reach base on a single, a hit batsman and another single. With a run in, JoJo Romero was brought into the game. Another run scored on a groundout and two more came home on Jackie Bradley Jr.'s two-run homer with two outs.

Bradley's homer cut the Phils' lead to 6-5.

The Brewers got no closer thanks to Coonrod.

Girardi and whoever else was involved in the lineup card snafu owes him a steak dinner.

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