John Kruk Puts The Announcer's Jinx On The Phillies Seconds Before They Give Up Grand Slam To Reds

The announcer's jinx is a very real thing in sports. We see it play out all the time. You hear an analyst mention a shooter's great free-throw percentage, and they step up to the charity stripe and brick their next attempt. You see it happen in football all the time with kickers, and at least a few times a week during golf tournaments when it comes to gimme-range putts.

Baseball, when you think about it, may be the sport you see the announcer jinx come into play the least. Outside of maybe a pitch type, rarely do you hear an announcer predict a play to come. 

Well, during the Philadelphia - Cincinnati game on Monday night, John Kruk may not have predicted a certain play, but he certainly foreshadowed the situation when Reds left fielder Spencer Steer stepped to the plate with the based loaded.

With the count sitting at 2-0, Kruk decided to note on the broadcast "no grand slams for Spencer Steer, let's hope that continues."

Exactly two pitches later, Steer went yard, because of course he did.

"The 2-1, fly ball, left field, pretty well hit, [Whit] Merrifield going back, it is gone,  grand slam for Spencer Steer,'" Phillies play-by-play man Tom McCarthy said.
 

To make things that much worse, Kruk's jinx came in the top of the 10th inning, and Steer's four-run dingier proved to be difference in Cincinnati's 6-2 win.

Steer's 383-foot home run handed the Phillies their third loss in four games, all of which have come at home.

It's a safe bet that Kruk will not be mentioning grand slams, or any home run stats for opposing teams, for the foreseeable future while on the call for the Phillies.