PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies finally won a game against a left-handed starting pitcher in Wednesday night's 6-3 victory over the A's at Citizens Bank Park …
… but it took a late rally against a right-handed reliever to get the job done.
Still, Wednesday's matchup against A's southpaw Jeffrey Springs provided the first glimpse at how Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly might fill out his lineup card against left-handed pitchers.
It didn't look all that different from the platoon-based lineups that former manager Rob Thomson had deployed for much of his time at the helm.
Edmundo Sosa started at second base over Bryson Stott, just one day after both Stott and Bryce Harper stated their case following Tuesday's victory for Stott to be an everyday player.
“First of all, you want guys that want to play every day," Mattingly said when asked about those comments. "I'd be a lot happier with him wanting to play every day than every time he sees a lefty, he feels like it’s a day off.
"There's gonna be days where Stott plays against lefties, but Sosa has been really good. To me, we’ve got to keep everybody involved over the course of the year."
As it turned out, Sosa provided the biggest swing of the night -- albeit against right-handed reliever Jack Perkins -- with a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning.
The Phillies entered the night 0-10 against left-handed starters (excluding openers). They’ve scored just 11 runs in 63 innings against those lefty pitchers (including two runs in 5 1/3 innings against Springs).
That's a 1.57 collective ERA. And here’s a look at how the Phils have fared against left-handed pitching overall this season:
- Batting average: .202 (28th)
- On-base percentage: .285 (27th)
- Slugging percentage: .331 (27th)
- OPS: .616 (28th)
Under Thomson, the approach for much of the past few years was platooning both Stott and outfielder Brandon Marsh at their respective positions. This year had been no different, though it clearly hadn't yielded much success against lefties.
Thus, some wondered if Mattingly might take a different approach -- especially with Marsh swinging a hot bat to start the season and Stott's vote of confidence from Harper on Tuesday.
Less than 24 hours later, however, Stott was not in the starting lineup. And while Marsh got the start in center field, that was as much about getting left-handed-hitting Justin Crawford (1-for-17 vs. LHP) a day off as anything else. (The Phillies do not have a right-handed-hitting option behind Crawford in center.)
“Just giving Craw a day," Mattingly said of Crawford, who did come off the bench and slipped to 1-for-18 vs. lefties after going 0-for-2 overall. " … It was really just choosing between Marsh and Craw today. Marsh, obviously, has been good.
“The rest of it is just kind of what we do.”
But now, the question becomes what will the Phillies do moving forward?
Marsh had three hits against lefties on Wednesday, raising his overall season average to .336 (third in the Majors). It marked the first time in his career that Marsh -- who entered the night with a .574 career OPS vs. left-handers (.806 vs. RHP) -- tallied three hits off southpaws in the same game.
“Just continues to swing the bat well against lefties and righties,” Mattingly said. “We're starting to talk about him almost every night right now. So we want to keep riding that. … He's a big part of what we're doing right now.”
As for that infield platoon, Stott entered Wednesday’s game as a pinch-hitter once the A’s went to the bullpen -- but not in place of Sosa.
Instead, Stott hit for the struggling Alec Bohm to lead off the seventh with the Phils trailing by one. Bohm had gone 0-for-2 to that point, dropping his season average to .159 with a .433 OPS.
It was significant because it marked not just the first time this season that Bohm had been lifted for a pinch-hitter, but the first time in Bohm’s career that he had been pinch-hit for (excluding injuries or blowouts).
Typically, the Phillies would have been more likely to save Stott for a situation like the one that presented itself one inning later.
But with Stott already in the game, Sosa -- who had shifted to Bohm’s spot at third -- got his chance to come through against a righty.
Stott will continue to want to play every day. Bohm will continue to get his chances. Sosa will continue to get spot starts all around the infield.
While Marsh may get some more looks as long as he keeps hitting, that infield platoon isn’t going anywhere … yet.
“I appreciate all the information I get from everyone and their opinions and all that,” Mattingly said. “But I’m still looking at it from the standpoint of, everybody on the bench -- I know we're going to need everybody.”