Jay Bruce isn’t Andrew McCutchen, but he easily does the job.

How does two home runs and six RBI sound? Well, Bruce did that in a 9-6 Phillies win against the Padres in place of Cutch, who we found out tore his ACL on Monday night.

After hitting a double and being brought home by Scott Kingery in the second, Bruce hit a two-run opposite field shot in the fourth to give the Phillies the lead for good. Kingery also hit a solo home run three pitches later. In the next inning, Bruce hit a grand slam dinger to right to put the Phillies up 8-2.

Bruce is a power hitter and is very different in terms of skill than McCutchen. I doubt he can make a diving catch in the outfield, but if the bat can produce like it did last night (he’s on pace for 40 home runs), I’ll take it. A great get by Matt Klentak.

On the mound, Jerad Eickhoff had a good outing, going six innings and giving up three runs off four hits with five strikeouts. There’s still a lot of concern with the bullpen. Edgar Garcia gave up three runs off three batters (Franmil Reyes solo home run, Manny Machado walk, Eric Hosmer 2-run homer). He was awful. Seranthony Domínguez saved the inning with two strikeouts. Even Hector Neris didn’t look that convincing in the ninth despite two strikeouts.


In place of Cutch was Adam Haseley, who went 0-for-4 batting.

The teams have the rubber match of their series this afternoon at 3:40 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Jake Arrieta takes the mound against Cal Quantrill. Kinda sounds like a baseball name.

While you wait, make sure you listen to the latest episode of Crossed Up.

The Roundup:


Sixers news for today:

First, they let go of Dr. Daniel “Funky Cold” Medina and Dr. David T. Martin from their medical staff.

Speaking of personnel, Avery Johnson is interviewing for one of the vacant assistant coaching gigs.

Purdue’s Carsen Edwards is one of six players working out in Camden.


The Kevin Hayes trade looks great for the Flyers, for now. But is there a deeper meaning to this?


Current Eagles linebacker and former Redskin Zach Brown doesn’t miss Washington at all:.

“It’s different here,“ he said. “It’s a different mentality. Last year wasn’t a good experience for nobody down there. This place is night and day compared to there.

“Everybody’s cool here. Everybody talks to everybody. The offense talks to the defense. This locker room is so different from the one I came from.

“In Washington, there were cliques. Here, I can go over there and mess with the offensive linemen. The running backs are right next to me, so I always give them crap. I give the receivers crap, too. You couldn’t do that there.“

Free agent safety Jonathan Cyprien worked out with the team yesterday.


The Union put out a cool video of a guy destroying a New York Red Bulls car. They play Saturday at Talen Energy Stadium.


In other sports news, Bruins defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara broke his jaw. The team is seeking options as Game 5 is tomorrow night.

New Jaguars teammate Terrelle Pryor asks his new quarterback, Nick Foles, why he threw seven touchdowns against his Raiders.

The Patriots cut tight end Austin Seferian-“Leeroy” Jenkins. That leaves them with Benjamin Watson (suspended for the first four games) and…other guys.


In the news, a bill to legalize marijuana in Delaware is getting its first committee hearing.

50% of Atlantic City will be uninhabitable by 2060. Oh well.