PHILADELPHIA -- Rob Thomson played his latest hunch on Wednesday night.
The Phillies' interim manager started energetic Edmundo Sosa at shortstop for a second consecutive game. And for a second straight night, Philadelphia won; in the 4-3 victory over Miami at Citizens Bank Park, Sosa went 3-for-3 with one home run and three RBIs.
Thomson's hunch paid off, which was particularly notable because the decision to start Sosa caused something of a kerfuffle among Phillies fans when the lineup was first posted pregame. They wondered, "What happened to Bryson Stott?" Stott has been the team’s everyday shortstop since early August, starting 25 of 31 games since Didi Gregorius played his final game at short on Aug. 4.
But after Sosa played well in Tuesday’s walk-off 3-2 win over Miami -- going 2-for-2 with a double, a home run, a walk and two runs scored -- Thomson felt he needed to reward the performance.
“Going into the series, I was thinking [of] play [Sosa] the first night, then play Stott the second night,” Thomson said. “Stott has seen [Trevor] Rogers before, and Stott has good at-bats against everybody. And I didn’t want him to sit too long, especially with the off-day on Monday. But Sosa’s night last night was so big that I just couldn’t keep him out.”
Sosa hit a go-ahead two-run homer to left field in the third inning against Marlins lefty Trevor Rogers, then singled in the fifth. Then, Sosa made a leaping between-the-legs tag to catch JJ Bleday stealing in the seventh for an inning-ending strikeout-throwout double play.
It was one of a handful of fantastic defensive plays the Phillies made throughout the night.
“It was a fraction of a second that I had to really make up my mind,” Sosa said through the team’s interpreter.
Sosa then hit a ball back to Marlins pitcher Huascar Brazoban in the bottom of the seventh. The ball deflected off Brazoban's glove into shallow right field, allowing Matt Vierling to score from second base and give the Phillies a two-run lead.
Sosa never stopped running and turned the knock into a double.
“It was all about forcing the play at second instead of at home plate,” Sosa said.
Sosa helped the Phillies (75-61) maintain a lead of less than a percentage-point over the Padres (76-62) for the second NL Wild Card. It also pushed Philadelphia to a four-game lead over Milwaukee (71-65), which is chasing the Phils and Padres for a Wild Card spot.
(The Phillies’ lead over the Brewers is basically five games because they own a tiebreaker against the NL Central club.)
Sosa has been a real nice pickup for the Phillies, who acquired him from the Cardinals on July 30 for left-hander JoJo Romero. Sosa slashed just .189/.244/.271 with no home runs, eight RBIs and a .514 OPS in 131 plate appearances with St. Louis. The Phils said at the time they liked Sosa because of his defense, but they also said they believed he could do more offensively.
Sosa is playing great defense with the Phillies, but he also is slashing .357/.391/.667 with two homers, 12 RBIs and a 1.058 OPS in 47 plate appearances.
Sosa’s past 10 plate appearances over his past four games look like this:
Aug. 31: double, double, single
Sept. 2: lineout
Sept. 6: home run, double, walk
Sept. 7: home run, single, double
It is a small sample size, of course, but postseason contenders need this kind of production from bench players like Sosa.
“I feel very happy here,” Sosa said. “Everybody has treated me well here. I have no complaints. They’ve really welcomed me with open arms. It motivates you to do well and try to help the team win. One of the best characteristics that I have is that I bring a lot of energy to the field. That’s something that a player like myself has to do. Knowing my role, knowing that I’m not going to play every day. So it’s important to always bring the energy. Pump the guys up, be there for them and just do well when I have a chance to play.”
Prior to Wednesday's game, Thomson said that Stott will start Thursday’s series finale against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.
He will probably stick with those plans.
Though, you never know, right?
“An outstanding game again,” Thomson said. “We’ll go back to the lab afterward and figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.”