CHICAGO — Last week, Rob Thomson said the Phillies planned to turn center field into “more of a platoon.” But they faced a righty starter in six consecutive games since then, so the manager kept writing Brandon Marsh’s name in the lineup.
And Marsh hasn’t stopped hitting.
So much for being Wally Pipp’d by center-field challenger Cristian Pache. Marsh continued his weeklong tear by crushing two home runs through the smoke at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night and joined Ranger Suárez in carrying the Phillies to a series-opening 5-1 drubbing of the Cubs.
The Phillies won for the third time in four games and improved to 16-7 in June.
Marsh, it seems, isn’t interested in a timeshare with Pache, every bit the touted prospect that Marsh once was. He smashed a cutter from Cubs starter Jameson Taillon to center field in the second inning, then turned on a Taillon curveball for a two-run shot in the fifth.
Since Thomson used the ‘P’ word, Marsh has gone 12 for 20 and hiked his batting line from .252/.340/.413 to .283/.363/.469.
“I don’t know what it was, but all of a sudden, his swing got better and he started hitting the ball the other way and turning on balls he was supposed to turn on,” Thomson said. “He’s got a little bit of confidence now. It’s good for him.”
Thomson was always inclined to use Marsh, a left-handed hitter, against righties. But the Phillies wanted to turn him loose against lefties, too, this season, and after a strong April, he has struggled.
Pache, meanwhile, has demonstrated improvement at the plate since the Phillies acquired him on the eve of opening day from the Athletics. He returned this month from minor knee surgery and was a catalyst on the bases and with his typically stellar defense during a recent series in Oakland.
It made sense, then, to consider a platoon. But even if Thomson wanted to give Pache a start over the last week, Marsh made it impossible.
Thomson, as usual, credited hitting coach Kevin Long for helping Marsh to make positive changes. The central theme: Be aggressive in the strike zone, and don’t chase bad pitches.
“It’s easy to say, hard to do. But that’s what he’s doing,” Thomson said. “I don’t think there’s much of a swing change or anything like that. He’s swinging at the proper pitches.”
Take, for instance, the first home run against Taillon. After getting ahead in the count, Taillon tried to get Marsh to chase a high-and-outside fastball. When he laid off, Taillon busted him inside with a cutter. Marsh pulled in his hands, turned on the ball, and drove it out to the Wrigley bleachers.
For a few hours Tuesday, it was unclear that the game would even be played. Smoke from the wildfires in Canada, which descended upon Philadelphia a few weeks ago, arrived in Chicago. The air-quality index was hovering around 200 — commonly classified as “unhealthy.” MLB and the Players’ Association met hourly to discuss the situation.
But the game started on time, and the Phillies scored a first-inning run on Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff double and an RBI single by Trea Turner, who got thrown out after stumbling around first base.
The Phillies haven’t hit for much power lately, so Bryson Stott got them started on manufacturing a run in the fifth inning with a leadoff bunt single. But Marsh cranked a homer, and Kody Clemens broke a 2-for-28 spell with a double and scored on Nick Castellanos’ two-out single for a 5-0 lead.
The Phillies will finally face a lefty (Drew Smyly) on Wednesday. Surely, Marsh has to be in the lineup, right?
“He’ll get [Wednesday] off, I’m sure,” Thomson said.
If Marsh continues to slug, there won’t be many more days off.
Stellar Suárez
Suárez posted his sixth consecutive stellar start, holding the Cubs to four hits and recording an out in the eighth inning for the first time since June 23 of last season.
In his last half-dozen starts, Suárez has allowed six runs in 40 innings for a 1.35 ERA.
As usual, Suárez led with his sinker and got weak contact, including seven groundball outs. But he continued to mix in his secondary pitches. This time, it was his cutter and change-up, more than his emerging curveball, that kept the Cubs off balance.
Harper homerless again
Bryce Harper finished 0 for 4 and stretched his careerlong homerless streak to 26 games and 118 plate appearances.
Harper appeared frustrated in the fifth inning when he grounded out with a runner on third base and two out. Pitchers have been attacking him with breaking balls, and he struck out on a curveball from Taillon in the fourth.
Taking on Taillon
The Phillies considered signing Taillon as a free agent last winter, but opted instead for Taijuan Walker.
It’s doubtful they have any buyer’s remorse.
Taillon has a 6.90 ERA in 13 starts. The Phillies have knocked him around for 13 runs (11 earned) in 7 1/3 innings over two starts. Walker has a 4.10 ERA in 16 starts overall, including a 0.69 mark in his last four starts.
