Spring Training game 4: Phillies 9, Blue Jays 6

First look at the (mostly) starting lineup yields promising results

Rob Thomson treated us to the best view yet of what his starting offense figures to be as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 today for their second straight win of the spring.

The Starters

The lineup was very similar to the one that would have been on Monday had the game not been rained out, the only difference being Gabriel Rincones, Jr. sliding in for Nick Castellanos in right field and the bottom of the order being moved up accordingly.

The new look top of the lineup went down in order to begin the game and the starters were mostly quiet until the sixth inning when they blew the doors off.

Oscar Mercado led the inning off with a double and a steal of third followed by a 9-pitch walk to Trea Turner and an RBI single by Kyle Schwarber.

The Blue Jays brought in lefty, Richard Lovelady, to pitch to Harper and plunked him (he was fine) before allowing back to back RBI singles to Bryson Stott and JT Realmuto. Max Kepler grounded into what might have been a double play but Lovelady made an errant throw to second and another run scored. The Jays would commit another run-scoring error on a groundout by Rincones, Jr. before getting out of the inning down by four runs.

Stott also had a bloop single in the second and made a few tough plays in the field.

Interesting to see Stott higher in the order than Kepler at this point. Kepler mostly hit in the heart of the Twins’ order the past few seasons and has more raw power upside, so this must speak to Thomson’s confidence that Stott is primed to rebound from his poor second half last season.

Kepler had a hard hit line drive right to the centerfielder to end the second inning and finished 0-3 with an RBI on the fielder’s choice error in the sixth. Alec Bohm also finished 0-3.

Bench Candidates

The double in the sixth inning was Mercado’s second hit of the spring and he’s now 2-5 so far.

Rafael Marchan subbed in for Realmuto after the sixth and went 1-2, though he did have a passed ball in what was a pretty sloppy bottom of the ninth.

Otto Kemp and Kody Clemens had back to back doubles in the eighth inning and Christian Arroyo had an RBI infield single in the seventh. So far the bench hopefuls aren’t giving Thomson any easy decisions.

Organizational Depth

Carson Taylor and Matt Kroon were both hit by pitches that led to the scoring in the seventh inning. Rafael Lantigua went 0-1 with a walk and run scored. Josh Breaux was 0-2.

Pitching

Joe Ross’s had a bit of an up and down debut for his new club. He gave up a double to Bo Bichette and a walk to George Springer in the bottom of the first but got out of the jam with a strikeout of Alejandro Kirk.

Ross got into more trouble in the second, allowing a single and a double to begin the frame that put runners in scoring position with no outs. The runs came home on a couple sacrifice flies and he also hit a guy, but he was facing a mostly complete version of the Opening Day lineup of an AL East contender.

Ross’s likely bullpen mates, Jose Ruiz and Tanner Banks, had a scoreless inning each in the middle going.

Seth Johnson, the Phillies’ #16 prospect according to FanGraphs, showed glimpses of good stuff with 1.1 scoreless innings and a strikeout of Vlad Guerrero, Jr. while allowing three hits and a walk.

Carlos Francisco, Nabil Crismatt and Nick Vespi also held the Jays’ scoreless over a combined 2.2 innings of work.

Tristan Garnett and Cody Stashak (but mostly Garnett) had a dicey bottom of the ninth, allowing four runs to score. Stashak got a forwards K to end the game.

Prospects

Rincones, Jr. (1-4, HR, walk) hit his second home run of the spring, an opposite field wall clearer in the top of the third inning to get the Phillies on the board.

Justin Crawford had a two-out single and scored on Clemens’ double in the eighth inning.

Up Next

The competitiveness of Spring Training should level up again tomorrow afternoon as lefty Carlos Rodon and the New York Yankees come to Clearwater to face Zack Wheeler in his spring debut.