Phillies: Rhys Hoskins Splits The Show Players League Opener
Game 1: April 11, 2020, 9:05 p.m. vs. Jon Duplantier — Phillies 1, Diamondbacks 2
Hoskins began his MLB The Show Players League slate opposite Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Jon Duplantier.
Duplantier, 25, went 1-1 with a 4.42 ERA, 34-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.555 WHIP across 15 appearances (three starts) last season as a rookie. His 1.555 WHIP improved to 1.000 in the virtual setting opposite Hoskins, allowing just one hit — a solo home run to Didi Gregorius — spanning three innings.
Madison Bumgarner notched the win, while Aaron Nola suffered the loss, allowing two runs (both unearned) on two hits and one strikeout. The Hoskins-controlled Phillies entered the bottom of the second up 1-0, but things began to unravel when Nola allowed the leadoff batter to reach first on a throwing error. The next batter, Kole Calhoun, bunted to Nola for a single, putting two runners on. Then, Nick Ahmed hit a grounder that deflected off Nola for a single, loading the bases with nobody out.
Seranthony Dominguez entered and allowed a sacrifice fly RBI to Stephen Vogt, which turned into a double play. The next batter Carson Kelly doubled, giving Duplantier and the Diamondbacks the would-be winning run.
Gregorius’ solo home run would be Hoskins and the Phillies’ only hit in the MLB The Show Players League opener.
Game 2: April 11, 2020, 9:39 p.m. vs. Carl Edwards Jr. — Phillies 3, Mariners 5
Hoskins fell in his second straight game, in part due to Hector Neris‘ late-inning struggles. Zack Wheeler started the game.
Right-handed reliever Carl Edwards Jr. has appeared in194 career games, 192 of which with the Chicago Cubs from 2015 to part of last season. He was then dealt to the Padres, where he finished 2019 with a 32.40 ERA in just two appearances and 1 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, six runs and four walks. The Mariners inked the 28-year-old this offseason.
Game 3: April 11, 2020, 10:11 p.m. vs. Jesus Luzardo — Phillies 5, A’s 1
After falling in the first two games, Hoskins needed a convincing win to help reverse his fortunes; early, back-to-back-to-back home runs by J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper and Hoskins himself in the first helped kick-start just that.
Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta allowed just a sacrifice fly in the first; Realmuto brought home two more insurance runs with a two-run home run to left in the third frame.
Luzardo made his Major League debut last season with the Oakland Athletics; in six appearances, he yielded only two runs, five hits and three walks across 12 innings en route to a 1.50 ERA and 0.667 WHIP. Oakland acquired him from the Washington Nationals organization in July 2017, along with Sheldon Neuse and Blake Treinen, in exchange for relievers Sean Doolittle and Phillies 2008 World Series champion Ryan Madson.
Game 4: April 11, 2020, 10:39 p.m. vs. Niko Goodrum — Phillies 4, Tigers 3
After beating the Oakland A’s Jesus Luzardo comfortably in Game 3 to get in the win column, Hoskins relied on his momentum to help him edge the Detroit Tigers’ Niko Goodrum in Game 4, 4-3.
Goodrum, 28, has played all of his three career seasons thus far in the American League Central. He started out with the Minnesota Twins in 2017, collecting only one hit across 17 at-bats; in 2018 and 2019 with the Detroit Tigers, the second baseman, first baseman and corner outfielder slashed a combined .247/.318/.427 with 56 doubles, 28 home runs, 98 RBI, 24 stolen baes and 88 walks across 243 games and 964 plate appearances.
Starter Vince Velasquez struggled in the first, allowing two hits and a walk, but Hoskins came out of the inning unscathed while throwing 15 total pitches; a Bryce Harper RBI single in the latter half of the first would give him the early lead.
Hoskins’ luck would not translate over the following inning. In order to win, Hoskins would need to come from behind, after allowing three runs in the second inning, all of which were charged to the line of reliever Robert Stock despite him retiring his first two batters in order.
Andrew McCutchen cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second with a RBI single, putting the score at 3-2 in favor of Goodrum and the Tigers. Then came the bottom of the third, Hoskins’ last chance to at least tie the game to force extras. He did just that.
With one out, Hoskins himself walked on a 3-2 count. Then, Didi Gregorius singled just past the second baseman; Jean Segura also singled, but Hoskins was called out trying to score for the would-be tying run. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, Jay Bruce came through with an opposite-field single.
Fast-forward to two inning later in the bottom of the fifth, also with two runners on, Bruce came through again with a single to load the bases. Scott Kingery would deliver the walk-off with a single to center.
Total in the game, Hoskins produced nine hits and seven walks, as opposed to Goodrum’s 10 hits and two walks on the Tigers.