Trevor Plouffe sat in the right-field seats at Citizens Bank Park this week, looked out at the field, and basically had to laugh. That spot? The exact spot where his baseball life got a weird, glorious footnote.
Plouffe, the former Phillies infielder, was co-hosting his podcast “Talkin’ Baseball” during All-Star week in Philadelphia when he decided to revisit the scene of one of the strangest walk-off homers in recent memory. The one he hit off Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernandez in the 16th inning of a game that nearly stretched to six hours.
“Look, against position players, it’s easy yet tough mentally because he got me down to two strikes and think about striking out in a situation like that,” Plouffe said. “(The) 16th inning wasn’t an option. I got a pitch up out over the plate and somehow … I’m pretty impressed with myself to be honest.”
The date was July 24, 2018. The Phillies and Dodgers were locked in a marathon that lasted 5 hours, 55 minutes. Los Angeles had burned through eight pitchers by the time they handed the ball to Hernandez, who was basically told to go out there and survive.
He got the first out, then walked Jesmuel Valentin and Jorge Alfaro. That brought up Plouffe, who had exactly zero home runs that season entering that at-bat. He went opposite field, parked it in the right-field seats, and the Phillies walked off 7-4 winners.
According to ESPN, Hernandez became the first position player in the expansion era to allow a walk-off homer while pitching. That’s the kind of stat you don’t want attached to your name, but Plouffe will take it.
“It was one of those things where you’re just trying to put the ball in play,” Plouffe said on the podcast. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. I just wanted to get the job done. And somehow, I got enough of it.”
The moment has aged well. Plouffe is now a podcaster and baseball analyst, and Hernandez has become a folk hero of sorts with the Dodgers, winning a World Series in 2020 and earning a rep as one of the game’s most versatile and entertaining players. But on that July night in Philly, he was the guy who threw a meatball to a light-hitting infielder in the 16th inning.
Citizens Bank Park is hosting the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game this week, which gave Plouffe a natural reason to sit in those same seats and remember. The ballpark looks different when it’s decked out for the All-Star festivities, but the right-field seats haven’t moved. The memory hasn’t either.
Plouffe finished his story with a shrug and a grin. “I’m pretty impressed with myself,” he said again. And honestly, who can blame him?
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