Philadelphia Phillies face Rockies after Monday night thriller, Rojas good to go, Marsh in against lefty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The concerns regarding Johan Rojas' injury were short-lived. Rob Thomson has Rojas in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup on Tuesday, batting ninth, less than 24 hours after Rojas appeared to suffer an injury during the middle of the celebration of Cristian Pache's walk-off single in Monday night's victory.
"He got stepped on. But he's fine," Thomson said Tuesday. "I didn't even know it until afterwards."
Rojas was seen with a noticeable limp during the celebration on Monday but was walking around just fine in the clubhouse and in the dugout Tuesday. The Phillies center fielder is good to go.
"He's back in the lineup, so he's fine," Thomson said. "I think it scared him a little."
Brandon Marsh in, Whit Merrifield out of lineup
The Phillies face a left-handed starter in Austin Gomber, but a familiar face remains in the lineup. Brandon Marsh is in against the left-handed starter, batting eighth, while Whit Merrifield returns to the bench after an 0-for-3 night on Monday.
Merrifield has been getting the at-bats against left-handed starters, but Thomson has preached he wanted Marsh to see more at-bats against left-handed pitching. Marsh is hitting .214 against left-handed pitching this season with a .250 on-base percentage. He has just one extra-base hit against lefties and no home runs.
"We're still trying to get Marsh left-handed reps," Thomson said. "We don't mind the matchup. It's more about getting Marsh those reps."
Marsh is hitting only .143 against left-handed starters with eight strikeouts in 14 at bats, giving him another opportunity to prove to the Phillies he should be an everyday player. Marsh has been in the starting lineup for eight of the last nine games.
This has come at the expense of Merrifield, who is hitting just .107 in the 10 games he's played with no extra-base hits. Merrifield doesn't have a hit in his last 11 at-bats and is hitting just .167 against left-handed pitching this season.
"I have a lot of confidence in him," Thomson said. "He's a veteran player who's had good numbers in the past. I think it's just a matter of time, which is the same with a lot of these guys."
Double play struggles
The Phillies have turned just 0.59 double plays per game this season, ranking just 24th out of 30 teams thus far. Philadelphia has been slow turning the double play this season, which has been surprising considering the Phillies are third in baseball in ground-ball percentage from starting pitchers (49.9%).
Even with the double play struggles, Phillies pitching leads all of baseball in WAR at 2.8. That number could be higher if the double plays were turned faster, which Thomson said was also an issue last April before the Phillies improved later in the year.
"It's just exchange work," Thomson said. "It's getting the ball out on the front end and then exchange work on the back end. And they're working on it every day. A lot of it has to do with the speed of the ball hit to them too and the speed of the runner.
"I think there's been a few that we should have turned. We just kinda had some bad feeds on the front end, so we're working on it," Thomson said. "We went through the same thing last year, base running and double plays. And we worked it out."
The Phillies did finish 29th in double plays turned last season (82). They have five through 17 games this season, on pace for just 48 on the year.
