Dave Roberts has classy response to the Phillies error that lifted Dodgers to NLCS

No one who watched Thursday night's Dodgers-Phillies game has been able to pick their jaw off of the floor.

Through 10 2/3 of some of the hardest-fought baseball of the postseason, the Phillies looked like they were going to send it into the 12th until reliever Orion Kerkering fielded an Andy Pages grounder back to the mound.

Pages, who was barely halfway down the line when Kerkering had the ball in hand, said later that in the moment he was angry at himself for giving them such an easy out. JT Realmuto was pointing down to first base. Hyeseong Kim was sprinting home and so amped that his foot initially didn't even touch home plate, but it might not have mattered if Kerkering had simply thrown over to first.

He didn't. Instead, he threw to Realmuto — or at least tried to — and the ball sailed at least two feet over his catcher's head. Kim crossed home plate, then went back to tag again, just to be safe.

Pages was in disbelief over at first, and Kerkering immediately doubled over, hands on his knees and head down. The Dodgers stormed the field around him.

It was a devastating moment for the Phillies, but especially for Kerkering, who is still early into his career and is a homegrown Phillie.

Dave Roberts expressed sympathy for him after the game, saying, "It's brutal. Obviously they played great defense tonight. It's one of those things that ... it's a [pitcher's fielding practice]. He's done it a thousand times. And right there he was so focused, I'm sure, on just getting the hitter and just sort of forgot the outs and the situation. Kerkering is a stud. And you definitely feel for a player.''

Dave Roberts expressed sympathy after Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering's unbelievable, NLDS-ending error against Dodgers

Sure, the Dodgers had a score to settle with the Phillies in their first postseason meeting since back-to-back NLCS losses to them in 2008 and 2009, but it was just such a brutal way for the Phillies' season to end that it's impossible not to feel for them — or at least Kerkering.

He spoke to the media after the game and, holding back tears, admitted that the pressure of the moment got to him. But his teammates have been class acts about it, publicly wondering where they could've done better rather than projecting blame.

For the Dodgers, it was a blessing. Blake Treinen was warming for the 12th, and you wouldn't find a single Dodgers fan who had particularly warm feelings about how that would've played out.

Onto the NLCS. That kind of luck isn't always going to carry them, and the Dodgers' offense still needs to wake up in a big way if they want to get any further, but we can bask in it for a few more days.