Hoskins foul tips ball off face, exits with cut lip

LOS ANGELES -- Rhys Hoskins' month keeps getting worse.
Hoskins left Monday night's 5-4 loss to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in the ninth inning after he fouled a ball off his face in his at-bat against closer Kenley Jansen. Hoskins dropped to the dirt and blood poured from his lower lip. Pedro Florimón had to finish the at-bat on a 1-2 count. Florimon struck out swinging to end the game, although Hoskins is credited with the strikeout.
"He has a big, fat cut on the inside of his bottom lip," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. "He's getting evaluated. I don't have anything definitive beyond that. I'm not overly concerned at this point. He just has a big cut on his lip."
Hoskins, who was not available to comment, is hitting .134 with two home runs, nine RBIs and a .482 OPS in 26 games since April 27. Kapler said if Hoskins is OK and there is no risk to him, he could play Tuesday.
After Hoskins reached on catcher's interference and scored in the first inning, he struck out swinging in the second and struck out looking in the fourth. The called third strike in the fourth appeared to be outside the strike zone, and Hoskins expressed his displeasure to home-plate umpire Ted Barrett.
Hoskins then lined out to a leaping Chase Utley, who was shifted to the left of second base, in the seventh. The line drive had a hit probability of 82 percent, according to Statcast™.

"I think it's reasonable to say he's gone through some tough challenges recently," Kapler said. "I don't worry about him at all. I think he's as tough mentally as we have on our club. I have a tremendous amount of faith in his mental toughness and his physical capability. That never wavers. Do I think he's gone through something a little bit harder? Yeah, for sure. He's made some really solid contact recently with not a whole lot to show for it. We saw Carlos go through that for a really long stretch. No doubt in my mind things are going to turn around for Rhys and he's going to take off."