Philadelphia Phillies first base Bryce Harper (3) is held back by Tampa Bay Rays shortstop José Caballero (7) and shortstop Taylor Walls (6) during a scuffle in the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Watch: Phillies, Rays play wild bottom of the eighth inning featuring brawl, umpire assist

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Sep 10, 2024 10:09 PM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays played an absolutely bonkers bottom of the eighth inning on Tuesday night that featured a bad-luck bounce, a bench-clearing brawl and five runs.

Things started off with Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott grounding out on what might be one of the worst bad luck plays of the season.

Stott appeared to have ripped a ground ball down the right field line that was going to be an easy extra base hit. The only problem? It hit first base umpire John Bacon and bounced right to first baseman Yandy Diaz who easily stepped on the base for an out.

Apparently the Rays have 10 fielders out there tonight pic.twitter.com/pSufMEzRCK
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) September 11, 2024

That is about as bad of a bad luck out as you can get, and kind of sums up his season overall. The good news for the Phillies is they still managed to bounce back from that and score five runs on their way to a 9-4 win.

But the madness did not stop there in the inning with that fluke play.

In between the Stott play and all of the runs, however, was a bench-clearing brawl that started when Nick Castellanos was drilled by an Edwin Uceta fastball.

Benches clear in Philadelphia between the Phillies and the Rays. pic.twitter.com/KkdmS9AmZS
— MLB (@MLB) September 11, 2024

That is one of the wildest innings of the season.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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