Carlos Santana placed his hands on his head Monday night and rounded first base with defeat. Trying desperately to pull himself from a season-long funk, Santana had crushed a ball 410 feet and over the center-field fence. But San Francisco centerfielder Gorkys Hernandez leaped against the Citizens Bank Park wall and grabbed it.
The Phillies blamed Santana’s slump on poor luck. Manager Gabe Kapler called him the unluckiest hitter in baseball. And here Santana was again, with his hands on his head and cursing his luck. Or so he thought. But the ball slipped from Hernandez’s glove in the fifth inning and landed for a home run.