The ball spun in the air as if being carried by a tuxedoed waiter on a silver platter, gently delivered to the middle of home plate in the top of the 8th inning of Sunday’s 7-5, 10-inning loss to the Miami Marlins. Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering certainly didn’t mean to hang his slider like a restroom wall picture for Javier Sanoja to deposit over the left field fence, turning a 4-2 Phils lead into a 5-4 deficit, but hang it he did.
It was the first home run in 28 career big league games for the light-hitting Sanoja, a player who had slugged a mere seven homers with a .