GAME
RECAP: Fish Fluster Phils 6-4
Giancarlo Stanton picked an appropriate time to connect
on the longest home run tracked by Statcast™ this season. The three-time All-Star
blistered a two-run homer in the eighth inning on Friday night that launched
the Marlins to a 6-4 win over the Phillies at Marlins Park. The blast was
projected to travel 475 feet with an exit velocity of 113 mph. It ran Miami's
win streak to four, as the club has won 11 of 12. "They hit them. They
don't get cheap shots, do they?" Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. The
Marlins struck quickly off Vince Velasquez,
scoring twice in each of the first two innings. Christian Yelich tagged him for a two-run homer in the
first, and J.T. Realmuto and Martin Prado each had two-out RBI singles, putting
Miami ahead 4-0. But the Phillies stormed back against Wei-Yin Chen, who
allowed the leadoff batter to reach in each of his five innings. "The
momentum switched pretty quickly," Stanton said. "You feel like
you're in total control, and then they come back. Usually, that's when the
other team keeps it going and wins. So, it was good to put a hold on that and
come up big like that." Philadelphia hammered out 11 hits off Chen, tying
it at 4 on Maikel Franco's
opposite-field homer to open the fifth. "They were pitching me away and I
hit the ball [that way]," Franco said. "That's what I'm going to try
to continue to do and see what happens."
PHILS PHACTS:
- Batting in the
No. 8 spot, Velasquez beat out an infield single with two outs in the
fourth inning. It allowed Peter
Bourjos to
bat with runners at first and second. Bourjos promptly lined a double down
the left-field line, scoring both Freddy Galvis,
who had opened the frame with a single, and Velasquez to cut the Marlins'
lead to 4-3. "I had to help myself out, get on base and get another
run on my end and help the team out," Velasquez said. "It's a
team thing here. It's a tough loss, but we'll get them tomorrow."
- In the sixth, third baseman Franco went to his right to
backhand a line drive off the bat of Chris Johnson, turning it into an
inning-ending double play with a quick throw to second. It was just an
inning earlier that Franco hit the first pitch for a home run to tie the
game at 4. "Every single day I try to put a lot of focus on [my
defense]," Franco said. "I try to be ready every single pitch to
help my team on offense and defense."
NEXT
GAME:
Jeremy Hellickson gets the start for the
Phillies at 7:10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Hellickson looks to rebound from his last
outing, when he gave up six runs on seven hits, including three homers, over 5
1/3 innings in St. Louis.
PHILS PHACTS:
Location, Location, Location! – Phillies
starter Vince Velasquez struggled in the first two innings, digging himself
into an early hole that cost him. Though the Phillies fought back to tie it,
the Marlins prevailed, 6-4, on Giancarlo Stanton's
titanic two-run homer in the eighth inning. Velasquez, a 23-year-old
right-hander, went six innings for the no-decision, giving up four runs on
seven hits, including an upper-deck homer to Christian Yelich.
He struck out five batters and walked one. Of his 90 pitches, 64 were strikes. Velasquez
bounced back after the shaky start to retire 10 consecutive batters, allowing
just one hit over his final three innings of work. "Velasquez was a
different pitcher after the second inning," manager Pete Mackanin said.
"He looked like who he really is. They were all over his fastball [early].
He didn't locate it, and they're a good fastball-hitting team. They've been
winning. They've been swinging the bats extremely well." How did he manage
to turn things around so quickly? "Keep my composure and not let things
get out of hand anymore than they did," Velasquez said. "And then
kind of let things go. Things happen. It was a rough start. You can't get
behind in the count and then miss locations. Shutting down [the next] 10 guys
was something that led me to get the guys back in the dugout and get something
going." Velasquez said that he takes full responsibility for the early
struggles and had to go back into the clubhouse after the second inning to
regroup. "Missed locations. All that falls on my end," Velasquez
said. "So you have to figure something out, and you have to change. Do
whatever you have to do to prevent that." Velasquez was not himself in the
first two innings. "That pitch to Yelich was horrible," Velasquez
said. "It was literally on the opposite side of where I was trying to go.
Just yanked it, and he hit it out."
Change Is Good – Searching
for ways to get his team out of its doldrums offensively, manager Pete Mackanin
shook up Friday's lineup with everything from hitting Freddy Galvis fifth
for the first time in his career to batting pitcher Vince Velasquez eighth rather than in the traditional
ninth spot. It worked, to a degree. The Phillies outhit the Marlins, 12-10, but
they still came up short in a 6-4 loss at Marlins Park. "We're last in
the league in hitting, [so] I've got to try to do something," Mackanin
said. "Freddy's driven in some big runs, and Cesar [Hernandez] likes to
hit second, so I went back to that. I just think Freddy might be better off in
an RBI spot." Galvis delivered two hits and scored a run to extend his
hitting streak at Marlins Park to nine games. He was one of four Phillies with
multiple hits. Maikel Franco doubled and homered, driving in two
runs. His solo blast on the first pitch of the fifth inning brought the
Phillies all the way back from a 4-0 deficit to a 4-4 tie. But Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton provided the game-winner in the eighth
inning -- a 475-foot two-run blast, the longest home run of the 2016 season. Leadoff
hitter Odubel Herrera collected three hits, all singles, to
run his season hit total to 34, which leads all National League center
fielders. Peter Bourjos,
playing right field and hitting ninth, went 2-for-2 with two walks, two RBIs
and a run. Velasquez even got in on the act with a fourth-inning single that
Bourjos followed with his two-run double. Despite the outburst, the Phillies
still left eight runners on base. "I believe we're going to get better as
the season goes on," Mackanin said.
Early League Leader – Cameron Rupp is
the hardest hitter in the Major Leagues. That's according to Statcast™,
which revealed that the Phillies' catcher had the highest average exit velocity
(97.5 mph) on batted balls in play among all big leaguers this season, entering
Friday's 6-4 loss to the Marlins. For reference, Marlins
slugger Giancarlo Stanton led the Majors with a 98.5 mph average
in 2015. Stanton also launched one off his bat at 120.1 mph against
Washington's Joe Ross for a single in a game on April 10
this season. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said he isn't a bit surprised:
"He hits the ball hard." Despite Stanton's prowess, velocity doesn't
always translate into long balls. Rupp hit just one homer in his first 64
at-bats this season. Mackanin explained why. "Exit speed off the bat just means
you can hit the ball hard," Mackanin said. "Trajectory off the bat is
more important [in hitting homers]." Either way, Rupp has been making
solid contact. "That's pretty cool, I guess," Rupp said of the stat.
"I wish it gave me more hits. I'm just trying to make good contact. It
seems like I've been pretty consistent with it." Rupp's approach is
simple: See ball, hit ball. "I'm just looking for a pitch I can drive,
something I can handle in the zone, and when it's there, I don't miss it,"
Rupp said. "It's just one of those things where if it's a pitch I can
handle and I recognize it, I just let it go, and it finds the barrel." Rupp
said he's seeing the ball well right now. "When I'm making contact, it
seems like good, solid contact," Rupp said. Rupp doesn't concern himself
with having just one homer. Besides, Rupp slugged eight long balls in his final
38 games of last season, his first full year in the big leagues, after hitting
just one dinger through the first 65 games of his Major League career. Seven
doubles in his first 17 games is perhaps a more telling stat than his current
home run production. "I'm hitting the ball well," Rupp said.
"Home runs will come when they come. I'm just going up there trying to
drive the ball in the gap [and] drive some runs in when I have the
opportunity."
Minor Awards – The
Phillies have some of the most highly regarded prospects at shortstop, catcher,
outfield and on the mound. Two of their top second base prospects had a heck of
an April. The Phillies announced on Friday that Class A Lakewood second baseman
Josh Tobias, Double-A Reading right-hander Ben Lively and Class A Clearwater
second baseman Scott Kingery were named the organization's Minor League hitter,
pitcher and defender of the month, respectively. Tobias, 23, batted .347 with
eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, 19 RBIs, 12 walks and a 1.022 OPS in
20 games. Lively, 24, went 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA (five earned runs in 29
innings), 30 strikeouts, 0.90 WHIP and a .189 opponents' batting average.
Kingery, 22, played 180 innings without an error and helped turn nine double
plays. Kingery, rated the organization's 11th-best prospect by MLBPipeline.com, and Tobias
are worth watching as Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez has posted a .661 OPS in 809 career
plate appearances through Friday, including a .639 mark in 101 plate
appearances this season. The Phillies selected Kingery in the second round of
the 2015 Draft. They took Tobias in the 10th round. Kingery has started to hit
the ball much better after struggling with Lakewood last season, when he had a
.652 OPS in 282 plate appearances. He is hitting .269 with eight doubles, one
triple, two home runs, four RBIs, nine stolen bases, 12 walks, 14 strikeouts
and a .779 OPS in 118 plate appearances. He has not been caught stealing. "Scott
Kingery is hitting about as hard a .270 as you can hit," player
development director Joe Jordan said. "He really, really has been swinging
the bat well. He's a really good looking player. I just watched that club and I
was really impressed. He can do a lot of things on the baseball field. But from
a defensive standpoint, he's got tremendous feet. He's got really good hands
and an above-average arm for a second baseman." Tobias hit safely in 15 of
20 games, and he has batted .611 (11-for-18) with six extra-base hits against
left-handers. "Josh has done nothing but hit," Jordan said.
"Sitting in the Draft room last year and listening to the scouts discuss
him, this is a guy we targeted, and I think they just kind of waited until the
right time to take him. [Director of amateur scouting] Johnny [Almaraz] and his
guys played the draft perfectly. Josh can hit. He's a legitimate offensive
prospect. His bat is ready for probably a bigger challenge than we have in
front of him right now." Tobias has committed six errors in 196 innings. "He's
making progress defensively," Jordan said. The Phillies acquired Lively
from the Reds in December 2014 for Marlon Byrd. He
went 8-7 with a 4.13 ERA in 25 starts last season with Reading, but so far he
has been much more effective. He is 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA in six starts in 2016. "He's
made some adjustments, which is more delivery related than anything,"
Jordan said. "He's hit on a couple of things that has really helped his
fastball command. His breaking ball his sharper. He's just a better pitcher
right now than he was last year."
Today In Phils
History – There is a bit of a
dubious start to this day in Phillies history as Jesse Barnes of the Giants no
hit the Phillies in 1922. Nearly a century later, in 2010, Jamie Moyer became
the oldest player to throw a complete game shutout. Well, it almost balances
things out. However, the opposites continue as on the same day that the
Phillies acquired Dick Allen and Johnny Oates from the Braves, Garry
Maddox made his Phillies debut. Exactly eleven years to the day later, at age
36, Maddox retires with the third most career gold gloves as an outfielder
behind Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are currently 16-14 this season putting them on pace to beat most
preseason predictions. The Phillies finished the spring exceeding most
expectations compiling a record of 15-11-3 (18-11-3 if you include the
exhibition games against Reading and the University of Tampa). All time, the
Phillies are 42-51-0 on this day. I expect the Phillies to finish in the bottom
half of the division but not last in the NL East by finishing the season with a
77-85 record. Let the rebuild begin!
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