PHILADELPHIA — And on the third day, with the Phillies still searching for win No. 1, Bryce Harper was rested.
That was “kind of a planned thing” for Harper, hatched before the season-opening series with Atlanta, manager Rob Thomson said.
With Harper limited by back soreness in spring, Sunday felt like a good time to get Harper a day off. That was the case before the Phillies allowed 32 hits and 21 runs in two losses over Friday and Saturday. It remained so when Thomson finalized his lineup card Sunday morning. And according to all involved, it had little to do with Harper taking a tumble into the camera well chasing an Austin Riley foul ball in the first inning Saturday.
Harper was on message with that plan. Thomson said afterward that Harper was not available to pinch-hit Sunday due to general soreness. Both player and skipper expect him to be in the lineup Monday to start a series with Cincinnati.
“Going into spring training, obviously I didn’t get the reps I needed,” Harper said after a 5-4 Phillies win. “Playing nine the first two days, what happened yesterday I don’t think had any merit on today. Definitely looking forward to getting back in there tomorrow.”
Harper only got 12 games and 34 plate appearances in spring training, so firing him straight into every day baseball is not what Thomson wanted to do with his healthy-again two-time MVP.
A plethora of reasons pointed to Sunday as the day. The Phillies have two days off in April – April 4 and April 18. Chris Sale was on the bump for Atlanta; while perhaps not the seven-time All-Star of the past now that he’s 35, he’s still murder on lefties. And Thomson touted a deeper bench, wanting to get Cristian Pache and Whit Merrifield looks.
“Trying to take care of them, one,” Thomson said. “We’ve got in the first month two days off, so it’s like spring training without the extra 44 players. And with the lefty matchup, get other guys in, just protect them.”
Harper left Saturday’s game early, mainly Thomson said because it was 12-4 Braves at the time, and he reported little more than a scraped finger.
Sale, against whom lefties have only hit .203 against all-time, is the third straight left-handed starting pitcher the Phillies will face, with Max Fried disposed of in less than an inning Saturday and Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott Monday.
The Phillies stayed left-heavy against Fried. Sunday, Pache started in left field in place of Brandon Marsh, Marsh’s second straight day off since his opening-day home run. Despite improving against lefties last year, Bryson Stott sat for Merrifield to play second base. Alec Bohm started at first for Harper with Edmundo Sosa at third.
The light-lefty lineup made no difference to the only one in the lineup, Kyle Schwarber, who led off with a laser beam of a home run to right on Sale’s second pitch of the game. All nine of the Phillies’ hits came off lefties Sale and Aaron Bummer. Schwarber had two, and Merrifield and Soso each had a hit, Sosa scoring a run.
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Orion Kerkering threw a scoreless inning Saturday at Triple-A Lehigh Valley to start his rehab assignment. He threw 14 pitches, allowed one hit and struck out one.
“Very good,” Thomson said. “Velocity is good; it was the last time. The slider’s got really good shape to it.”
Kerkering faced only six batters in two spring innings, getting a late start due to illness. It’ll take a bit to build the young righty up. He’s scheduled to pitch again Tuesday, either in Lehigh Valley or possibly Clearwater if rain intervenes in the Northeast. The Phillies are targeting April 9 as a return date.
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Kerkering was joined on the injured list Sunday by Luis Ortiz, the righty who left Saturday’s game in the sixth inning after stumbling while fielding a ground ball. Thomson offered no prognosis beyond, saying, “We’re going to take it slow. He’s limping pretty good today.”
Nick Nelson was recalled. He had a 6.23 ERA in 8.2 spring innings. He made one big league appearance last year, throwing 5.1 solid innings to win Game No. 162 in New York, after 47 appearances in 2022.
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NOTES >> The Braves finished their first series in Philadelphia with 17 extra-base hits, including 12 doubles. The teams don’t play again until July 5-7 in Atlanta. The Braves are next at Citizens Bank Park Aug. 29-Sept. 1. … With his swipe of second in the three-run seventh inning, Trea Turner has now stolen 36 straight bases without being caught, the longest streak in the big leagues since Coco Crisp from 2011-12. … The Phillies welcome Cincinnati to town Monday. Cristopher Sanchez will get the ball in Game 1 against Abbott. Spencer Turnbull will make his Phillies debut Tuesday against Graham Ashcraft.
Source: Berkshire mont