What should have been a routine play turned into one of the most embarrassing moments of this young MLB season.
During the bottom of the second inning Sunday night, Giants shortstop Nick Ahmed cleanly fielded a ground ball hit by Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm, but as he stepped into his throw, Ahmed’s left cleat appeared to get caught in the soaked dirt in rainy Philadelphia, and his throw sailed way over the head of first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. and over the Phillies dugout.
It proved to be a costly error in the Giants’ eventual 5-4 loss, as Bohm, who led off the inning, automatically advanced to second because the throw went out of play, and he later scored to tie the game 1-1.
Brandon Marsh’s groundout advanced Bohm to third, and after a strikeout by Nick Castellanos and a walk by Bryson Stott, Edmundo Sosa drove Bohm in with a broken-bat infield single.
The error was Ahmed’s third of the season.
The 34-year-old spent 10 seasons with the Diamondbacks, winning back-to-back Gold Gloves in 2018 and ’19, before he was cut in September.
He landed a minor league contract with the Giants in February and won the starting shortstop job.
Ahmed is hitting .235 with a .569 OPS and 9 RBIs in 33 games this season.
His best offensive season came in 2019, when he slashed .254/.316/.437 with 19 home runs and 82 RBIs.
The Giants (15-20) have dropped the first three games of their wraparound series in Philly, which concludes Monday afternoon.
The Phillies (24-11) have won 16 of their last 19 games and enter Monday with the best record in MLB.