SEATTLE — As the Phillies opened a seven-game West Coast trip here Monday night, they had a higher rate of hard-hit balls than any team in the National League but only the eighth-most runs scored.
Joe Girardi’s engineering degree isn’t required to realize that something doesn’t add up.
But the biggest source of the manager’s frustration is also his greatest reason for optimism. To a man, the Phillies believe they will hit, at least relative to the rest of the league. And if they hit, they think they can finally push through to the playoffs.
Consider this, then, to be a demonstration of what they can do. The Phillies rapped out a season-high 17 hits and scored their most lopsided victory so far this season, 9-0, over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series.
And the biggest swing among all the big swings — from a tone-setting solo home run by ex-Mariner Jean Segura, to three hits apiece from Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos, and two J.T. Realmuto RBI singles — was a towering homer by Rhys Hoskins in the second inning.
Hoskins, as much as anyone, has symbolized the Phillies’ luckless offense. Entering the week, he ranked in the 97th percentile among all hitters in average exit velocity (97.5 mph) and the 89th percentile in hard-hit rate (51.6%). Yet he was batting .189 with two homers and a .638 on-base-plus-slugging.
So, yes, Hoskins needed to pull in his hands and drive an inside curveball from Mariners right-hander Chris Flexen over the left-field wall for the second of back-to-back homers with Segura to open a 2-0 lead. Hoskins needed the seventh-inning RBI single, too, and the leadoff single in the ninth.
Almost as much as the Phillies needed a victory like this over the reeling Mariners, who have dropped 11 of the last 13 games. Or any victory for that matter.
It wasn’t only that the Phillies had lost five of the previous six games. They’re also due to face reigning American League Cy Young winner Robbie Ray on Tuesday night and touted rookie lefty Tyler Gilbert on Wednesday before going to Los Angeles and likely facing Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium.
The Phillies were built to slug, and with Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin away from the team and on the COVID-19 injury list, that formula must apply more than ever. Best to get the offense going now then. Maybe it will even carry them through the week.
Segura in Seattle
Playing here for the first time since the Mariners traded him to the Phillies on Dec. 3, 2018, Segura started the scoring by lining a solo homer to center field against Flexen in the second inning.
Segura had two solid seasons in Seattle, batting .302 with 21 home runs in 269 games and going to the All-Star Game in 2018. But he also brawled in the clubhouse with teammate Dee Strange-Gordon and got benched late in the 2018 season for not hustling.
When the Mariners chose to rebuild after 2018, they sent Segura to the Phillies in a five-player swap that netted shortstop J.P. Crawford, whose hot start has been interrupted by back spasms.
No danger, Ranger
Overshadowed by all the offense were six scoreless innings from left-hander Ranger Suárez.
The Mariners had plenty of chances against Suárez. But he worked out of two-on, none-out jams in the second and sixth innings. He also got out of a two-on, two-out situation in the third.
Including Suárez’s outing, Phillies starting pitchers have allowed 34 earned runs in 106 innings for a 2.89 ERA over the last 19 games.
Morales shines in debut
Girardi said he hoped to find a “soft landing” for right-hander Francisco Morales to make his major-league debut.
Is a nine-run lead in the seventh inning soft enough?
Morales, the big right-hander who was called up Sunday from double-A Reading, faced six hitters and recorded six outs. He struck out Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh in the seventh inning and got touted rookie Julio Rodriguez to bounce into a double play in the eighth inning after a leadoff walk to Ty France.
It’s likely Morales will be a big part of the bullpen, following the path taken by Seranthony Dominguez when he got called up early in the 2018 season. Morales’ wife, Oriana, flew to Seattle from Philadelphia on Monday morning and was in attendance to watch him pitch.
