Major League Baseball

Phillies bullpen phone is left off hook during brutal game

Published Jun. 17, 2015 11:24 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Jason Rowan

It was a wild scene at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday. After all, how often do you see a team mash 8 home runs AND witness an outfielder throw 43 pitches in the same game?

But that’s exactly what went down during the Baltimore Orioles’ 19-3 throttling of the Philadelphia Phillies. The eight home runs were an Orioles franchise record. And the outfielder who was hung out to dry was Phillies right fielder Jeff Francoeur, who pitched an impressive 1-2-3 7th inning. Given the nightmarish season the Phillies have suffered through, what transpired next is nothing short of further evidence of just how bad things have gotten.

Given his impressive display of pitching in the 7th, the Phillies decided to trot Francoeur out for the 8th inning. That’s when things went awry.

Francoeur was tagged for a homer by the first batter then plunked the next one. Five batters later, he was inexplicably still toeing the rubber. And it appears the only reason the outfielder was being hung out to dry is because the Phillies were unable to bring in another reliever because … the bullpen phone was off the hook.

Derp.

Crossing Broad has a great video rundown of the disaster, including a frustrated Chase Utley expressing profane frustration over the utterly inept scene that played out during the mess.

The lesson here? No matter how bad things are going, they can always get worse. Just ask the Phillies.

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