With the Phillies offense scuffling and reigning Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara set to face them, manager Rob Thomson decided that it was time to juggle the lineup a bit to try and jump start his team.
After all, they were averaging just 3.3 runs per game, fifth-worst in baseball, and now they had the daunting task of facing one of the game’s best pitchers, who was off to another stellar start having allowed just six hits in his first two starts and was coming off a complete game shutout of the Minnesota Twins.
Thomson decided to move his hottest hitter, Bryson Stott, to the leadoff position, bumping Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber down a spot, and with J.T. Realmuto getting the night off behind the plate, he backloaded his lineup with lefties in the 6-9 positions.
The end result? How about 15 runs and 20 hits, chasing Alcantara in the fifth inning, handing him the second-worst loss of his seven-year MLB career in a 15-3 drubbing of the Miami Marlins.
Seven of the Phillies starters had multi-hit games. Only one didn’t get a hit at all. Four guys had three hits each and Stott, at the top, extended his hit streak to 10 games to start the season.
He had two more hits, meaning he has seven multi-hit games already, and his 17 hits so far is the most by any Phillie in the first 10 games since some guy named Chase Utley had 20 in 2014.
“He’s got the highest on-base on the club, he’s swinging the bat and he’s had good at bats,” Thomson said. “I always thought he kind of fits the mold of a leadoff guy. He sees a lot of pitches. He knows the strike zone. He uses the field. He can hit. He gets on base.”
And, apparently, he jump starts an offense.
Yes, Jake Cave started the assault on Alcantara’s pitching with this homer to make it 1-0 in the third inning:
However, Alcantara got two quick outs immediately after that homer, getting Kody Clemens to fly out and striking out Garrett Stubbs.
It wasn’t until Stott’s at bat, that the hit parade against Alcantara really began:
It was a really good at bat. Six pitches and Stott stayed back on a changeup after three straight fastballs. Once he got on base, he immediately stole second and then scored on a single by Turner.
Turner also stole second, then after Schwarber walked, Castellanos doubled home Turner (his league-leading seventh double of the season) and Bohm followed with a two-run single.
That quickly, it was 5-0 Phillies, and Alcantara was on the ropes.
Two innings later, the Phillies would chase Alcantara, although Stott wasn’t involved with this one.
Turner, Schwarber, Castellanos, and Bohm had four-straight singles, scoring two more runs that ended Alcantara’s night, and then Marsh, the first batter to face reliever Devin Smeltzer, did this:
Eight of Brandon Marsh’s 10 hits this season have been for extra bases. He is hitting .385 through 10 games.
He also eventually popped his second homer of the season to put an exclamation point on the game:
As for Bohm, dude just keeps hitting. And, he now has three homers in 10 games, which means he’s on pace for 49. The Phillies would be happy with 25, but it’s starting to look like he might have more than that in the tank:
It was the kind of game this offense needed. Now, you look ahead and see Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler are on deck and you think, “Man, the Phillies can sweep the Marlins.”
If they do, they head to Cincinnati with a winning record, something that on Easter seemed highly unlikely.