The Phillies saw their 2025 season come to a dramatic end in Thursday night's Game 4 loss to the Dodgers, a bitter defeat that arguably stings that much more due to how the game ended.
With bases loaded and two outs, Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering had the chance to end the 11th inning after Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages hit a weak ground ball right to him. Kerkering had an easy toss to first base to get the third out, but he instead chucked it to home plate way above catcher J.T. Realmuto's head. That wild throw drove in Dodgers pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim for the winning run, allowing L.A. to clinch the 2-1 win and punch its ticket to the NLCS.
Kerkering bafflingly threw to home despite Realmuto very clearly pointing to first base right after Pages's grounder. Maybe the Phillies catcher could have given him a more audible heads-up instead of physically gesturing, but the error ultimately fell on Kerkering for automatically throwing it to Realmuto for some bizarre reason.
A photo of Realmuto pointing to first just before Kerkering makes his unfortunate error is going viral on social media, and it's a pretty sad one:
He wasn’t even half way to first base
— Lorenzo (@wegoticezo) October 10, 2025
And Realmuto is pointing I can’t believe it pic.twitter.com/pmz4L7mhnm
That is an incredibly sad way to end the series. JT Realmuto was pointing to first base. pic.twitter.com/T2Acxbashz
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) October 10, 2025
J.T. Realmuto has no clue the dumbest thing imaginable is about to happen 0.5 seconds after this pic.twitter.com/EsL2iF1jar
— Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) October 10, 2025
Thinking about JT Realmuto calmly pointing to first base, completely unaware that Orion Kerkering is about to whip the ball over his head. pic.twitter.com/qTcxyOoZgl
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) October 10, 2025
“Bro.”
— Matt McCarthy (@MattMcCarthy985) October 10, 2025
-JT Realmuto pic.twitter.com/vxfATzEvTN
Better luck next time for the Phillies.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sad Photo of Phillies Catcher Pointing to First Base Before Brutal Error Is Going Viral.
