Another beautiful day of Phillies’ Spring Training baseball took place this afternoon from BayCare Ballpark.
The Phillies played host to the Detroit Tigers in Grapefruit League action on Wednesday.
For the second time this week, it was a low-scoring affair. A 3-run eighth inning finally got some offense going for the team, as they were able to put this one away.
Aaron Nola
Aaron Nola took the ball this afternoon as he builds towards the regular season. After a couple of rough outings in his last two appearances, he needed a bounce-back performance.
Nola was dialed in early, facing just the minimum through the first two innings. After three, Nola threw 36 pitches, and 26 of them were strikes. Aside from one poor appearance against Mark Canha, the Phillies’ ace was painting.
To start the 4th inning, former Phillie Matt Vierling would lead off. He would say hello to his former teammate with a 425-foot homerun to center.
Aaron Nola would finish the day with the following stat line: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 HR.
Struggling Offense
The theorized starting lineup for the Phillies has drawn a couple of blanks so far this week. On Monday, the starting unit failed to put a run on the board.
Wednesday against Detroit was much of the same. Through five innings, the Phillies just had one hit, a single from Bryce Harper.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Whit Merrifield got the scoring started with a solo shot to left.
However, the Merrifield home run would not provide a spark. The Phils would go down quietly in the remainder of the frame and again in the 7th inning.
At this point, the starters had exited for the afternoon, and the bench unit rolled in.
Speaking of that unit, they made some highlight-level plays. Kody Clemens started what turned out to be an incredible inning-ending double play.
Kody would follow that up with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 8th. He would score on a wild pitch to take a 2-1 lead. Carlos De La Cruz would drive in the next run with an RBI single, giving the Phillies a 3-1 lead. Jake Cave would drive in the final run with another RBI single.
Gearing up for Opening Day
As Spring Training starts to unwind, we got a preview of what to expect on Opening Day. Before Kyle Schwarber was scratched from the lineup with groin tightness, the following was the Phillies lineup.
The lineup of Schwarber, Turner, Harper, Realmuto, Stott, Bohm, Castellanos, Marsh, and Rojas seems like it will be the lineup to start the 2024 season.
Assuming nothing goes off schedule, Aaron Nola is expected to be the starting pitcher on Opening Day again this season. If it happens, this would be Aaron’s 7th consecutive start on Opening Day, something only Steve Carlton and Robin Roberts have done for the organization.
Phillies Remaining Schedule
After today’s game, the Phils will play fourteen more Grapefruit League games before they return to Citizens Bank Park to hold the Braves on Opening Day.
They host the Boston Red Sox on Thursday before playing a night game against the Astros on Friday.
Photo Courtesy of the Philadelphia Phillies
