Philadelphia Phillies: 10 worst losses of the 2019 season

5. June 2: Dodgers 8, Phillies 0

Trying to salvage the final game of a series at Dodger Stadium, where they have been terrible in recent years, the Phils were locked in a scoreless battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers through six innings.

Nick Pivetta was pitching the game of his life so far, whiffing nine Dodgers to that point while allowing just three hits while throwing 82 pitches.

That’s when Kapler got thoroughly pantsed by Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts.

Cesar Hernandez ripped a two-out double in the top of the seventh, bringing Maikel Franco to the plate. Except it didn’t, because Roberts did not hesitate to intentionally walk Franco in a bid to bring up Pivetta and force Kapler’s hand.

Kapler pinch hit Phil Gosselin for Pivetta, and he proceeded to take a called third strike right down the middle to end the inning. Vince Velasquez replaced Pivetta on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, allowing a tie-breaking home run.

It didn’t even end up mattering that Edgar Garcia and Yacksel Rios imploded to allow a combined seven runs in the bottom of the eighth, as the Dodgers only needed the one run on this day in an 8-0 win.

And it’s all because Kapler removed a pitcher who was absolutely cruising in order to take a very low percentage gamble.