Coming off two consecutive series wins and just one defeat in the last, the Philadelphia Phillies entered Citi Field with only one intention: End their winning drought at Citi Field. However, Philadelphia ended up losing yet another game on Monday night. The defeat marked their eighth straight loss at Citi Field and their 22nd in the last 28 matchups against New York. But the real talking point wasn’t the lopsided scoreline, but the Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.

During the top of the fifth inning, Bohm’s antics sparked a bizarre 19-minute delay which was the biggest highlight of the game. What’s worse, apart from the Phillies fans, the postgame chatter from the Philadelphia camp is also pointing to Bohm’s interruption as the turning point that derailed the Phillies. Ricky Bottalico, a former Philadelphia pitcher and now a commentator, did not hesitate in calling out Bohm.

“Let’s talk about Alec Bohm over at third base. Okay Alec, you had a good defensive game, but what really kind of got to me? You caused a 19-minute delay on something that’s been there since at least 2017. We went back and checked. That exact same thing has been there since 2017,” Bottalico remarked.

Notably, the drama began in the fifth inning when the Phillies complained about being distracted by a glare coming off a parabolic microphone in the outfield. If you have checked the game, the issue was first brought up by Bohm right after he grounded into a double play. The situation was heating up as the Mets swapped pitchers, with Kodai Senga giving way to lefty Jose Castillo, changing the look for hitters with the game tied at 3.

However, based on the Phillies’ complaint, the umpires huddled up, talked it over, and eventually had the dish-shaped mics. But the weird part is, according to SNY, the mics have been sitting out there for years! “This is one of the sillier delays I’ve ever seen,” SNY’s Gary Cohen said. And the Phillies paid a heavy price for this.

The Phillies witnessed an unreal meltdown in the game

The game felt pretty even until that strange delay. At that point, it was knotted up at 3-3, and the Phillies had already blown an early 3-0 lead. Cristopher Sanchez came out looking every bit like a Cy Young contender, cruising through three innings without giving up a hit on just 38 pitches. But after that, things unraveled quickly, and his next couple of innings turned into a nightmare. And guess what, by the end of it all, the Phillies dropped to 76-55 on the season!

Early on, though, it looked like the Phillies were in control. If you have checked the game, you have seen how Trea Turner opened the game with a triple and scored on a Kyle Schwarber groundout. Then in the third, Schwarber walked, and Bryce Harper followed with a single. Then, both came around to score on Alec Bohm’s base hit to right-center, giving Philly a 3-0 cushion.

That was pretty much the highlight reel. The offense dried up completely after Harrison Bader’s infield single in the fourth, their last hit of the night. However, Bohm at least chipped in those two RBIs. But after the delay, momentum swung hard to the Mets, and the Phillies never recovered.