A walk-off catcher’s interference gives the Phillies a 3-2 win over Red Sox in extras

Max Lazar bunkered down beneath the stands to calm down from the sugar rush of stranding the go-ahead runner on second base in the 10th inning Monday night.

That’s when he heard all the commotion.

“I think it was J.T. [Realmuto] or Kyle [Schwarber], they started screaming, ‘Hey, get to the phone! Catcher’s interference!’” Lazar said. “And I’m like, ‘What?’”

Just like everyone else in sold-out Citizens Bank Park.

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Because you could spend a lifetime watching baseball and never see another ending like this. The Phillies pocketed a 3-2 victory when a replay challenge turned Edmundo Sosa’s check-swing (for a ball) into an interference call charged to Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez with the bases loaded, forcing in the winning run.

You can’t make this stuff up.

“It’s the first time that happened in my career,” Sosa said through a team interpreter. “Obviously I’ve experienced catcher’s interference before, but not exactly to walk-off a game.”

Said manager Rob Thomson: “There’s two things this year that I’ve never seen before in 40 years.”

The first happened 13 nights earlier when the Phillies lost on a walk-off inside-the-park homer in San Francisco.

Suffice to say, this one felt better for Thomson.

“It did,” he said, smiling.

For the record, it was the second time that a game ended on a catcher’s interference call since 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other was Aug. 1, 1971, when the Dodgers edged the Reds. In that case, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench was ruled to have interfered with Manny Mota on a steal of home.

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This time, Narváez reached out his mitt too far to try to steal a strike. Sosa’s bat clipped it, and after the review, the call on the field was overturned.

“To be honest,” Sosa said, “this just feels exactly like a home run because the most important thing about it is that we ended up winning the game.”

If not for the nearly unprecedented ending, this might have gone down as the Max Lazar Game because of what happened in the top of the 10th and the potential ripple effect on the Phillies’ bullpen.

After Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, Thomson turned not to embattled reliever Jordan Romano in the 10th. Instead, the call went out to Lazar, who was in triple A until mid-May and pitched mostly in low leverage situations until recently.

The Phillies are looking everywhere for bullpen help before the trade deadline in 10 days. Jot down Lazar’s name. Thomson liked him against the top of the Red Sox’s order, even with the automatic runner on second base, and he carved through Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman, and Roman Anthony on 10 pitches.

“He’s been getting a lot of swing and miss,” Thomson said. “Just because of the curveball, it was a good matchup for that group of hitters.”

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Lazar struck out Duran on a cutter away. He got Bregman to ground out to shortstop Trea Turner, who ranged behind second base, spun, and made a strong throw.

Then, Lazar threw a first-pitch curveball to get ahead of Anthony. He got the Red Sox’s touted rookie to swing and miss at a 95 mph fastball before making him fish for the curve in the dirt.

One. Two. Three.

Easy as that.

“Everything that’s been happening, from last year carrying over to this year, it’s all a first for me,” Lazar said after notching his first win in his 29th major league appearance. “Just trying to take it all in and help the team win.”

Lazar has quietly pitched well since getting called up from triple A. In 22⅓ innings over 18 appearances, he has allowed 17 hits and eight walks. He has a 3.18 ERA. And with every appearance, he gains more of Thomson’s trust.

“He’s been great,” Thomson said. “I trust him. He’s been really good. And he’s got ice in his veins, too. He’s really cool out there.”

But Lazar did show emotion after striking out Anthony, pumping his fist as he came off the mound. When he got to the dugout, Thomson asked if he could pitch the 11th, if necessary.

Are you kidding?

“I said, yeah, because that’s happened this year [in triple A] actually, where I pitched the 10th and it was a tie game, then I’ve gone back out for the 11th,” Lazar said. “Or maybe I came in a dirty inning [with runners on base] for the nine, got out of it, and then we went to extras and I went back out. As a pitcher, we’re just trying to limit runs, you know?”

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As an offense, the Phillies will take it when they can score without getting a hit. That’s how it happened in the 10th against hard-throwing Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks, who walked Otto Kemp, threw a wild pitch, then walked Max Kepler intentionally to set up a force at home.

It didn’t matter.

And so, after Zack Wheeler ground out six innings, Bryce Harper lashed two more extra-base hits, and Lazar kept it tied, a catcher reached out his mitt too far and the game was over.

“People always say, ‘I’ve never seen that before on a baseball field,’” Wheeler said. “I’m wondering how many more times you can say that [now].”