TORONTO — Gabe Kapler, from the top step in the visitors' dugout, looked across the field on Saturday afternoon and gathered all the intel he needed.
The Phillies manager spotted Blue Jays hitter Billy McKinney pause as he walked toward home plate in the seventh inning and glance to the home dugout. McKinney was checking to see if he was being lifted for a pinch-hitter. And that fleeting look sealed the crucial decision of an 8-6 loss.
Kapler had lefthander Luis Avilan primed in the bullpen to face the lefthanded McKinney, who had homered a day earlier.