Six things we learned from Phillies big series win over the Brewers
By John Town
Maikel Franco isn’t going down without a fight
Since J.P. Crawford returned from the disabled list, he has played mostly at third base as Gabe Kapler wants to keep Scott Kingery at shortstop. This has left Maikel Franco relegated to a bench role over the last week and a half.
Franco was struggling heavily heading into Sunday’s game. Since May 10, he had a .171/.227/.220 line with just one home run and one double. He certainly wasn’t giving Kapler any reason to keep him in the lineup.
Sunday Kapler decided to give Franco a start at third as he already had two career home runs against Brewers starter Chase Anderson. That proved to be a good decision as Franco had a huge day at the plate, hitting his third home run against Anderson. He drove in four runs going 2-for-3 with a walk. It was the most runs he has driven in since April 5.
There is plenty of speculation surrounding the team acquiring a third baseman at the trade deadline with Franco still not performing well at the plate overall. However, he still wants to show he has value, which is exactly what he did Sunday.