PHILADELPHIA -- After a fastball drilled Rhys Hoskins on the left shoulder on the first Sunday of the 2019 season, just inches below the jaw he broke on a foul ball last summer, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler expressed his frustrations about a pitch that could have hurt one of the most important players on the team.

“He is, in many ways, the heartbeat of our club,” Kapler said.

Hoskins is continuing to emerge as a star in Philadelphia and across baseball, too. He hit two home runs Monday night in a 4-3 victory over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. He hit a go-ahead home run to left field in the sixth inning, his 25th go-ahead homer since his big league debut on Aug. 10, 2017. Only Oakland’s Khris Davis (29) has more in that time. Hoskins then hit a towering homer to left in the eighth to hand the Phillies a two-run lead. It proved to be the difference after Phillies right-hander Pat Neshek allowed a homer to Brian Dozier in the ninth.

“I don’t feel like that’s a responsibility,” Hoskins said, asked if he feels the need to elevate his game in critical moments because of his stature in the Phillies’ clubhouse. “An opportunity and a privilege, sure. But again, I don’t feel like any guys feel like they have to do it all or be the guy. Because if you don’t, somebody else will."

But Hoskins has been the guy a lot this season, and throughout his Phillies career. He is batting .367 with five home runs, 15 RBIs and a 1.446 OPS through the Phillies’ 7-2 start. The Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger and Mariners’ Domingo Santana are the only players in baseball with more RBIs (19).

Hoskins had 96 RBIs last season. If he stays healthy, it is hard to imagine him not flying past that number this year.

“Obviously you always want to do better than the previous year,” Hoskins said. “I just want to do better than that. I knew I was going to have a ton of opportunities with the guys that were going to be hitting in front of me and their track records of getting on base. You’ve got to be able to knock guys in, you’ve got to hit with guys on base. I’ve been lucky to be put in that opportunity quite a bit so far and hopefully I’ll keep coming through."

Hoskins hit a go-ahead homer in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over the Twins as well. It came on a 3-2 curveball in a nine-pitch at-bat against Twins right-hander Jose Berrios. Monday’s go-ahead homer in the sixth also came on a 3-2 curveball in a six-pitch at-bat against Nationals right-hander Anibal Sanchez.

His second homer had a 47-degree launch angle, tying Tommy Joseph (Sept. 17, 2017) for the highest homer hit by the Phillies since Statcast began tracking in 2015. It was the 13th homer in baseball hit that high or higher in that span.

“I was joking with somebody about what the launch angle was going to say on the board,” Hoskins said. “I guessed 55."

The second homer also gave Hoskins another opportunity to work through the assortment of post-homer celebrations with each of his teammates. Hoskins forgot his individualized routine with teammate Scott Kingery following the first homer.

“I felt terrible,” Hoskins said. “I made sure that I went and got him in the dugout. Like baseball does, it puts you in another opportunity for you to atone for your mistakes."

Is that defense out there?

The Phillies made a point to improve their defense this season, and so far they have looked better. It showed up Monday. Hoskins fielded a ball off the bag in the fourth. The Phillies threw out Ryan Zimmerman at the plate in that same inning on a flawless relay from Bryce Harper to Jean Segura to J.T. Realmuto. Maikel Franco made a slick barehanded play and throw to get Kurt Suzuki at first to end the seventh. Andrew McCutchen made a nice catch on the run in left field with the game-tying run on second base in the ninth.

“We improved from a personnel standpoint,” Kapler said. “Our coaching has received an upgrade. That's no disrespect to anything prior. But, certainly, I think Bobby (infielder coach Bobby Dickerson) is one of the better defensive infield coaches in baseball. (First-base coach) Paco (Figueroa) has done a really good job as well.”

Vinny Velo shows something

Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez allowed two runs in five innings in his season debut in the rotation. He threw first-pitch strikes to only seven of the 18 batters he faced, but he walked none.

“I started off a little bit shaky,” he said, referring to a two-run homer to Suzuki in the second. “Then I kind of settled in toward the end. J.T. (Realmuto) and I were linked up all the way through. I made one mistake pretty much."