Giants take Phillies series on Bailey’s inside-park walk off homer

Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hits a three-run, inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday at Oracle Park. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
07.08.25 – Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park walk off homer with one out in the ninth inning, lifting San Francisco to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.
The qualities typically required to hit a walk-off inside-the-park home run don’t fit the Bailey mold.
An inside-the-parker calls for speed, and Bailey, who spends most of his time in the squat, isn’t the fleetest of foot. The feat often requires a hot hitter, or even a lucky one, and Bailey hasn’t had many moments that check either box this year.
But in a perfect moment — bottom of the ninth inning, his team down two with the tying run at first base against the first-place Phillies — Bailey beat expectations to deliver a heroic moment, one of the unlikeliest plays in baseball amid a Giants season that’s stacking up quite a few magical ones.
Bailey launched reliever Jordan Romano’s first-pitch fastball to the deepest part of Oracle Park. It would have been out of the park in every other MLB ballpark, per Statcast — inches shy of a much less tiring walk-off — but this one ricocheted off the top of the right-field bricks so hard that it bounced well into center field.
“Once it shot the other way, everyone was thinking inside the park,” manager Bob Melvin said.
As Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh chased the ball along the warning track, Casey Schmitt trotted home from third, pinch-runner Brett Wisely momentarily tied the game and Bailey chugged across home plate to win it, 4-3, on Tuesday night with a scrum of teammates waiting to mob him.
After he realized the ball didn’t leave the yard and shortly before he blacked out on adrenaline, Bailey remembers thinking one thing as he rounded second base and saw third base coach Matt Williams furiously waving his arm: Don’t trip.
“I picked (Williams) up, but I had a feeling I was going,” Bailey said. “I saw he was waving and I just thought, ‘Don’t fall over, don’t fall over.”
2025.07.08 (Phillies vs. Giants) See Full Highlights

Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, in headband, celebrates with teammates after hitting a three-run, inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday at Oracle Park. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
2025.07.08 (Phillies vs. Giants) See Full Highlights
2025.07.08 (Phillies vs. Giants) See Full Highlights
It was baseball’s first walk-off inside-the-park home run since Cleveland’s Tyler Naquin did it in 2016 and first by a Giant since Angel Pagan on May 25, 2013, against the Colorado Rockies.
Not just Bailey, gaining that kind of steam has historically been difficult for any catcher. Bailey is the first catcher has hit a walk-off inside-the-park since Washington’s Bennie Tate in 1926, 99 years ago, and marks only the third time a catcher has ever done so.
“I think that was the fastest he’s ever run,” Schmitt said. “I think he runs pretty decently well, especially for a catcher. He was absolutely moving.”
The walk-off itself wasn’t possible without the setup. Schmitt led off the inning with a double and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores, not before switching out his bat mid at-bat, singled up the middle to put runners on the corners with one out.
“Once Flo gets a hit, we have a chance,” Melvin said. “Patrick has been struggling some but got a good pitch to hit. I thought it was out, but kicked off the wall — you don’t see many inside-the-park home runs. It was Ichiro-esque in the All-Star Game, maybe a different speed.”
The Giants’ MLB-leading ninth walk-off win of the year might have ignited the most joyous celebration of them all in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,212 sharing in jubilation. Momentum had carried Bailey to the opposing team’s side, and his teammates met him there. Willy Adames, typically the first guy out of the dugout in a big moment, was again ahead of the bunch.
“Insane. I was just trying to rip the jersey,” Adames said. “I don’t know what everyone else was doing.”
Everyone else had pushed Bailey to the ground and playfully punched him into the fetal position, where he was doused in green liquid dumped from the cooler. By the time Bailey peeled himself off the dirt and walked to the dugout, he was still out of breath.
“Out of breath and had no clothing on, too, it looked like,” Melvin said.
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (NBC Sports post recap)

Giants catcher Patrick Bailey is doused by Willy Adames after hitting a three-run, inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Tuesday at Oracle Park. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (NBC Sports post recap)
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (NBC Sports post recap)
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (Locked On post recap)

The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber circles the bases after hitting a go-ahead two-run home run off Giants relief pitcher Spencer Bivens in the seventh inning Tuesday at Oracle Park. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (Locked On post recap)
2025.07.08 – Phillies vs. Giants (Locked On post recap)
Last week, an aggressive Arizona Diamondbacks lineup helped Robbie Ray get through his second career complete game. The Phillies made life more difficult for the left-hander.
Ray needed just nine pitches to get through the first and struck out three in the second, but a leadoff walk by Alec Bohm in the inning helped bump Ray’s pitch count to 33. He needed 30 pitches to navigate the third inning.
Nearing 100 pitches, Ray succumbed in the sixth. A hit-by-pitch and walk were followed by a Nick Castellanos single and Otto Kemp’s game-tying RBI double — Philadelphia’s first hit with runners in scoring position since Friday. Ray departed two outs into the sixth having allowed the one run and four hits with five strikeouts and three walks. He threw his knuckle curveball, one of his least used pitches this year, 22 times in his 99 pitches.
Technically, this plots out to be Ray’s final start before the All-Star break — an All-Star himself, he’s on track to be available in Atlanta — but it would be shocking if the Giants don’t use the off-day on Thursday to have Ray pitch on Sunday in the series finale against the Dodgers.
That would mean Hayden Birdsong, who has struggled with his command mightily in his past two starts, would see his turn skipped. Landen Roupp, looking more reliable by the start, would get the call Saturday with Logan Webb going Friday.
Reliever Spencer Bivens surrendered what was the biggest hit of the game until Bailey’s: Schwarber’s off-balance, two-run Splash Hit in the seventh on a 90 mph pitch down in the zone to break the 1-1 tie. Philadelphia had the lead until the ninth when it vanished — thanks to one crazy carom and a wild sprint.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Logan Webb (8-6, 2.62) host the Dodgers and RHP Dustin May (5-5, 4.52) on Friday night.
Philadelphia: LHP Ranger Suárez (7-2, 1.99 ERA) will start at San Diego on Friday night.
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Read more at: San Francisco Giants Media Services / More AP MLB
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
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