The Phillies Postgame Live crew breaks down the clubs’ 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
PHILADELPHIA – Brandon Marsh was activated from the injured list Saturday afternoon and returned to the nine-spot, starting in centre field for the Phillies against Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.
Will Marsh resume starting against all right-handers as he did before his hamstring injury?
“Not necessarily,” manager Rob Thomson said. “(Johan) Rojas is playing so well. We’ll just pick and choose, see where we’re at on a day-to-day basis.”
Rojas hit .310 with a double, triple, homer, three walks and three stolen bases in the 14 games Marsh missed with a right hamstring strain. He had a couple of lapses in the field and on the basepaths over those two weeks but Rojas’ sensational ninth-inning catch in the gap in left-center preserved Friday’s win and was an example of how he can impact a game.
“Rojas is incredible and I’m not just saying this because he’s sitting next to me,” Marsh said Saturday afternoon from the Phillies’ clubhouse. “He’s a phenomenal outfielder so we expect nothing less from him.”
The Phillies expect more offence from Marsh than they received in April and hope he is in a better place at the plate. He went 4-for-9 in his final two games with Triple A Lehigh Valley, homering and driving in five runs. He is just 4-for-42 (.095) with one extra-base hit in the majors this season.
“The last two games have been really good,” Thomson said. “Staying through the ball, hit an opposite-field home run. I thought the at-bats were a lot better.”
Marsh last played in the majors on April 16 against the Giants, when he suffered a mild right hamstring strain. He began a rehab assignment eight days later at Triple A but it was paused on Sunday when he experienced cramping in the area of the injury.
“It was just a late night game to early day game, it was a little tight, a little crampy, nothing major,” Marsh said.
The Phillies sat him down for three days before Marsh restarted the rehab assignment on Thursday with the IronPigs, had two productive games and made the trip early Saturday morning from Rochester to Philadelphia.
“It feels awesome (to be back),” he said. “It was a good time in Rochester, the boys are playing really well down there and the vibes are up, so it was a lot of fun.”
The Phillies talked in the spring about wanting to play Marsh more against left-handed pitching but the bigger priority now is his finding a rhythm against righties. That’s Marsh’s best path to long-term playing time. He hit .276/.363/.463 vs. right-handers in 2023 and 2024 but is just 2-for-29 this season.
Rojas will be back in the lineup Sunday against lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. He avoided injury when colliding into the wall in left-center after the ninth-inning robbery Friday night.
“Good, I think he was just a little banged-up running into the wall,” Thomson said. “But he came out of it fine and said he’s all good today.”
Source: NBC10 Philadelphia
