3 takeaways from the Phillies' weekend series win against the Marlins
Here's what we saw this weekend from the Phillies.
With another series win in the books, the Philadelphia Phillies are off to New York to face the Mets on Monday. But the weekend spent playing another NL East rival in the Miami Marlins gave us some takeaways about this Phillies team at the moment.
The Phillies continued their winning ways against weaker opponents, putting up 22 runs in the three-game series. The Phils followed Friday's 8-2 throttling with an 8-3 win on Saturday and then capped the weekend with a comeback that fell short in an extra-innings 7-6 loss on Mother's Day Sunday.
Marlins 7, Phillies 6 in 10 innings
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) May 12, 2024
Zack Wheeler wasn't himself today, allowing six runs in four innings. Phillies tied the game in the sixth, but couldn't get the big hit late. A ball deflects off Gregory Soto's backside and into the outfield to score Miami's winning run.
3 takeaways from the Phillies' weekend series win against the Marlins
The Phillies leave Miami with a 28-13 record and a lead of 1.5 games in the division over the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins are now 17.5 games back in the basement of the NL East.
Apart from another series win and a first-place team, what else can we take away from this Phillies weekend at loanDepot Park?
From Taijuan Walker’s start to Bryson Stott’s announcement that he’s back, to some weird and wacky lineups, here's what we saw.
Taijuan Walker is fitting nicely in the rotation
There was plenty of consternation over Taijuan Walker’s return to the rotation two weeks ago. We can probably relax a little now, after the right-hander’s performance in Saturday’s win.
His first two starts were marred by seventh-inning problems, leading to most of his 6.39 ERA heading into the weekend. Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn’t let Walker sniff the seventh inning against the Marlins — a decision likely helped by his 86 pitches through six.
Aside from a fifth-inning solo home run, Walker kept Miami off the scoreboard, scattering eight hits with fours strikeouts and one walk. The start lowered his ERA to 4.82 as he picked up his third win.
Bryson Stott is back
After being one of the regulars who got off to a slow start in the first month, second baseman Bryson Stott has been heating up. He used this weekend's matchup against the NL East rival Marlins as a launching pad to announce that he's officially back.
He didn't play Friday but made his presence felt in a big way on Saturday. Stott went 2-for-5 with four RBI. His line included a ridiculous bases-clearing triple in the sixth with the game tied 1-1. The ridiculous part? He turned on a pitch at his knees — not at knee level over the plate — literally, at his knees, and hooked it down the first base line into the corner.
Go ahead and break it open, Bryson 👌 pic.twitter.com/7709tWComb
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 11, 2024
He followed Saturday's performance with a 2-for-2 day on Sunday afternoon. He walked three times and stole a pair of the bags in the loss.
When you're going good, you're going good.
And Stott is going good right now. After starting the year hitting .210 with a .559 OPS up to April 27, he has come alive over the past week and a half. In his last seven games, he's hitting .455 with nine RBI and a 1.263 OPS.
He's also walking more than he's striking out, with 11 walks to six strikeouts since April 28. He struck out 17 times over his first 25 games with just eight walks.
“Sometimes you put a good swing on a bad pitch and things happen,” Stott said Saturday, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. “Sometimes you put a bad swing on a good pitch and things happen. I think I’ve always kind of liked the ball inside. I know my chase numbers are worse on the inside part of the plate. I like swinging at inside pitches, and I think that’s what the reports say so I see a lot of them. But being able to keep that ball fair was nice, especially in that situation.”
Rob Thomson’s lineups work
The weird and wacky lineups manager Rob Thomson is marching out there aren't having a problem putting runs on the board. It doesn’t seem to matter who he pencils in and in what order. At least right now.
The ever-changing lineups have been partly by choice and partly out of necessity. The Phillies faced three left-handers in Miami, so the right-handed hitting Edmundo Sosa and Cristian Pache came off the bench to start all three games.
With Trea Turner already out, Kyle Schwarber missed Saturday and Sunday with back soreness after being lifted in the ninth inning on Friday. Whit Merrifield led off both days. J.T. Realmuto sat out Sunday's affair with a sore knee.
Regardless of who was in, it was the bottom of the lineup that was bonkers in the first two games over the weekend. The rotating cast hitting in the six to nine spots kept delivering. In the three games, those spots in the Phillies lineup went 14-for-46 (.304) with 13 RBI and 10 runs scored.
It must be a good feeling for Thomson, to know that every spot is going to put up a battle at the plate and deliver a quality at-bat. Pache went 5-for-13 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. Sosa went 3-for-9 with a double, a triple, four walks and four runs scored. Johan Rojas went 4-for-8 with a home run, four RBI and two stolen bases in his two games.
“The bottom of the lineup has done a great job the last couple of days,” Thomson said after Saturday’s win (subscription required), per Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s good to see. We’re getting guys time off. And the guys who don’t usually play are performing. And we’re winning. So it’s really a perfect storm.”
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