PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies returned to Citizens Bank Park on Friday with a different lineup than most expected. Infielder Kody Clemens, who was activated earlier that day, was in the eight hole. Bench outfielder Jake Cave was in the seven hole. Instead of batting second and third, Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins were raising the 2022 National League pennant in Ashburn Alley. Hoskins, who is recovering from left knee ACL surgery, was leaning on a crutch.
This wasn’t how president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski drew it up. But this is the reality of the 2023 Phillies right now. A $250 million team has eight players on the 40-man roster on the injured list. The good news is that they have experience to draw from.
The 2023 Phillies will have to take a page out of the 2022 Phillies’ book. They will have to rally around their injured players. They will have to cobble together hits and runs until they come back. And on Friday, in a 5-2 home opener victory on a brisk April day, they did that.
It wasn’t hot-hitting Kyle Schwarber or Alec Bohm who hit the first home run, but catcher J.T. Realmuto. In the seventh inning of a 2-2 game, Realmuto took a cutter right down the middle of the plate and launched it 448 feet into the left-center field stands for a two-run homer, his first of the season.
In the eighth inning, pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa saw just one pitch — a 78-mph slider — and hit it 394 feet to give the Phillies a 5-2 lead. It was the first pinch-hit home run of Sosa’s career, and his first home run of the season.
This isn’t how Dombrowski drew it up. But last year didn’t go according to plan. And as of today, a 2022 NL pennant is flying high over center field.
Better outing for Wheeler
Zack Wheeler didn’t have a perfect outing, but he looked far better than he did in his previous start against the Rangers on Saturday when he allowed seven hits and four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. Against the Reds, he allowed five hits, two earned runs and three walks in 5 1/3 innings with five strikeouts.
Wheeler allowed only two walks and one hit through his first four innings. He hit trouble in the fifth inning when he allowed a double to Spencer Steer, walked Will Benson and gave up an RBI single by Jose Barrero. He exited the game after a double by Tyler Stephenson drove in TJ Friedl to tie the game 2-2 in the sixth inning. He threw 92 pitches, 59 of them strikes.
Encouraging day for Castellanos
After going hitless through his previous four games, right fielder Nick Castellanos went 2 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Both of his hits were doubles, one of them hit very hard (it clocked in at 108.4 mph, the second highest exit velocity of the day and his hardest hit of the season). Needless to say, with the injuries of Hall, Hoskins and Harper, the Phillies could use a bounce-back season from Castellanos.
Castellanos now has four walks in his first seven games. He had 29 walks through 136 games last season.
