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SAN DIEGO – Both moments are like bookends that frame Jean Segura's three-day emotional visit to Petco Park.
During the first round of Monday night's game, he failed to make a pop-up. The next thing you knew, Andrew McCutchen was on the ground, gripping his left knee as a result of an injury that ended the season.
Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth inning on Wednesday afternoon. The Phillies clung to a two-point lead over the San Diego Padres. The bases were loaded and Manny Machado, who had already hit a grand slam of the series, was at the plate against Hector Neris. With two outs and the outstanding match, Neris threw a 2-2 splitter and Machado raised him on the left field. Would he fall in a decisive blow? It was certainly lucky because the left field player Jay Bruce was playing hard.
As the level of concern increased in the Phillies canoe, Segura took off from his stopping position in pursuit of the ball. He ran away into the left field and, like a wide catcher, followed the ball and watched it in his glove for the third outing.
Phew!
The Phillies had a lot of performances in their 7-5 win over the Padres (see comments), but Segura could have been the biggest.
Had he all the way?
"No," said Segura. "But I knew I had a chance so I went to get him."
"It was definitely a moment of heart attack in the canoe," said director, Gabe Kapler.
"It was a game saver," Jake Arrieta added.
A travel saver.
"One of the biggest victories of our year for sure," said Kapler.
After capturing, Segura returned to the dugout canoe and received a hug.
From Neris?
"Not just Hector – everyone," he says.
Segura probably needed a hug after the week that he had passed. His lack of dynamism on Monday night caused McCutchen to sink into a deluge and the Phillies leader blew his knee trying to escape.
McCutchen was just a few steps away, on crutches, while Segura was talking to reporters after the match.
"It's difficult," said Segura. "I have not slept well the last two nights. I think about it. I feel really bad for Cutch. At the end of the day, I do not think my haste had anything to do with her injury. It's happened. I am not that type of player. I always do my best, coping, playing 100%. It was just something that happened. I am human. I made a mistake and I do not blame anyone. I have no excuses. I have to keep moving forward and pray for him.
The win allowed the Phillies to win the series after losing the first four games of the trip, three to Los Angeles. They returned home at 35-27, still in first place in the east of NL.
What week in the west it was. The Phils were beaten at Dodger Stadium. They took over Jay Bruce in an exchange to strengthen the bench, but he now finds himself as a starter – with three home runs and seven runs produced in two starts. They lost McCutchen. They promoted Adam Haseley. And in the final on Wednesday, they saw the precious lifter Seranthony Dominguez out of the field with a painful right elbow. He will have an MRI in Philadelphia on Thursday.
During the trip, Arrieta and Aaron Nola combined three starts and none were good.
Arrieta was hard hit on Wednesday, but the Phils managed to come back after a 5-2 deficit thanks to the likes of Cesar Hernandez, Bryce Harper, Haseley, Bruce, Scott Kingery and Andrew Knapp. Haseley started a three-point rally in the seventh with a walk and Kingery a two-point rally with a two-way in the eighth. Haseley gave the Phils advantage with a RBI double on the left on a 0-2 throw in the eighth. It was his first shot in the major leagues and it was a big one.
"It's all fuzzy," Haseley said of his big moment. "I really can not put it into words."
Harper did his best to put victory into words.
"Huge dub," he says.
Sometimes, less is more.
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