Orion Kerkering Returns to Dodger Stadium After Game 4 Error
orion kerkering returned to Dodger Stadium on Friday for the first time since the NLDS error last season. The Phillies reliever said he is trying to treat the trip like any other game while carrying a 2.21 ERA into it. The return brings him back to the park where one play ended Game 4 and still shadows his October run.
Kerkering at Dodger Stadium
The 25-year-old said he is not trying to let that mistake take over the night. “Just trying to build off of a bad memory. Put that foundation down, for sure.”
He also said, “I’m just going in there like it’s another game, not really try to overthink it, and just go after guys while I’m there.” Kerkering added, “Not think about the past, not think about anything.”
The mistake came in the final play of the 11-inning Game 4 against the Dodgers last season, when he threw a softly hit bases-loaded grounder over J.T. Realmuto’s head at home instead of making the routine play at first. Kerkering called Dodger Stadium a place that keeps changing in his mind: “I think every time you go there, it’s a new memory, no matter what. Good, bad, or different. That one’s probably obviously the biggest one, but you give up homers at different stadiums.”
Kerkering’s 2024 numbers
His work this season gives him something sturdier to lean on. Kerkering has not allowed an earned run in his last three appearances, has four holds and one save, and opposing batters are producing a 20% hard-hit rate against him.
The pitch mix has changed too. He developed a new splitter this offseason, has thrown it 18 times this season and has not allowed a hit on it. His two-seam fastball has also sharpened: opponents hit.317 against it last season and.154 against it this season.
Realmuto said the growth has been obvious from the catcher’s view. “He’s just been really good for us for a long time, especially this year,” he said. “He’s got so much confidence, he’s filling the zone up. His stuff is obviously elite.”
Kerkering spent Thursday with family in the Los Angeles area before the series, then walked back into the same stadium carrying better numbers and a harder memory. The task for the Phillies is simple enough: keep the reliever’s season moving in the direction of the 2.21 ERA, not the play that still defines one October night.
Realmuto on Kerkering
Realmuto’s praise points to the same split that now shapes the story. Kerkering is pitching well enough to turn a return visit into a test of routine, not a reckoning, and the next few outings will show whether that approach sticks in the same park where the error happened.
