WASHINGTON — Facing a right-handed starting pitcher in Game 2 of 162, the Phillies went with a different lineup than Opening Day.
Get used to the back-and-forth. Manager Rob Thomson plans to lead Trea Turner off against lefties and Kyle Schwarber against righties.
Turner led off in Thursday’s opener vs. Mackenzie Gore and is likely to do so again Sunday afternoon when the Phillies see southpaw Mitchell Parker. Saturday’s opponent was Jake Irvin, thus the different arrangement.
- Kyle Schwarber, DH (L)
- Trea Turner, SS
- Bryce Harper, 1B (L)
- Alec Bohm, 3B
- Max Kepler, LF (L)
- J.T. Realmuto, C
- Nick Castellanos, RF
- Bryson Stott, 2B (L)
- Brandon Marsh, CF (L)
Jesus Luzardo, LHP
Whether it’s Turner or Schwarber up top, the important part is being able to alternate lefties and righties in the first six spots. On Thursday, Harper made the Nationals pay with a game-tying homer for using a right-handed reliever to try to navigate the right-left-right section of Turner-Harper-Bohm. Ideally, they get that sort of opposite-handed production to keep opposing managers honest in their late-game decision-making.
There should be a good mixture of both batting orders over the first few weeks with the Phillies drawing two lefties in the opening series in Washington, Kyle Freeland in their first home series and then likely Blake Snell and Chris Sale in the two to follow.
There could be challenging shadows again during the first half of Saturday’s 4:05 p.m. game, but fortunately for the hitters, it’s a cloudier day than Thursday.
At least on paper, it should be a better day for the bats. The Phillies faced Irvin four times last year and scored four-plus runs off him each time, winning three of the games. Five different Phillies — Turner, Kepler, Realmuto, Stott and Marsh — have taken him deep.
Luzardo makes his Phillies debut. He feels healthy after missing a bulk of last season with a back injury, and though he had a couple of shaky spring outings, the much more important sign was his four-seam fastball and sinker averaging 96 mph.
