Juan Soto Lost A Ball In The Sun That Almost Hit Him Allowing The Phillies To Score

The Phillies and Padres met in Game 2 of the NLCS on Wednesday afternoon in San Diego on a gorgeous day that was a bit too perfect for those in the field.

The cloudless sky provided no help against the sun and every fly ball turned into an adventure, with the Phillies becoming the beneficiaries in the second inning as they piled up three runs on nothing but singles, continuing their run of incredible luck this postseason (or, for the other team, infuriating luck). After getting runners on second and third thanks to a throwing error on the first RBI single of the inning, Matt Vierling hit a fly ball to right field that Juan Soto tracked to the warning track until, suddenly, he lost it in the sun and could only duck and turn away as it almost hit him.

Somewhat luckily for the Padres this was only a one-run error in the immediate because it was a tagging situation, so the runner on second didn’t also score, but both he and Vierling would eventually score on a bloop single and an error by the first baseman, making it a 4-0 ball game.

As John Smoltz explained on the broadcast, there was nothing for Soto really to do because the angle on the ball was impossible to get around and avoid the sun, but it is just horrific luck for the Padres who could’ve been one out away from getting out of the inning and, at the very least, should’ve escaped at a 3-0 deficit.