Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson credits the depth of his club’s offense as his hitters try to “keep up with the Joneses in the lineup.”
It’s a good aspiration to have, and one that helped the Phillies to consecutive series victories as they open a three-game set against the host Chicago White Sox on Monday.
“A lot of our veteran guys have been carrying a huge weight of the workload for us, hitting-wise,” Philadelphia outfielder Brandon Marsh said. “Guys like myself have got to try to get to first so they could get us in. But the veterans that we have, they’re doing incredible. It’s fun to see, and it’s fun to hit after them.”
Rookie Otto Kemp shouldered the offensive load Sunday with two home runs in Phillies’ 4-3 loss to the Yankees in a bid to earn a series sweep in New York. Nick Castellanos also contributed a solo shot for Philadelphia after missing Saturday’s victory with a left-knee injury.
The Phillies had two other hits Sunday that didn’t leave Yankee Stadium. One of them belonged to J.T. Realmuto, a sixth-inning single that gave the catcher a hit in 13 of his past 14 games.
Chicago also was reliant on the long ball in defeat Sunday. Andrew Benintendi smacked two home runs, including a three-run shot in the eighth inning that drew the White Sox within the final margin of 5-4.
Three errors helped derail the White Sox, who have lost two straight after roaring to a 6-1 start coming out of the All-Star break.
“It was a good, competitive series, you know,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “We’re right there. To me, we continue to play well even though we haven’t had the results the last couple games. So we’ve just got to keep going. This club’s in a good spot, and we’ve just got to keep it rolling.”
Right-hander Davis Martin (2-8, 3.89 ERA) is set to start for Chicago as he seeks his first victory since May 14. Martin missed about five weeks with a right forearm strain and returned to the rotation Tuesday at Tampa Bay, taking the loss after yielding four runs (three earned) and three hits in five innings.
He walked a season-high four while striking out three.
Martin said he was “very pleased with how everything was” apart from the Rays’ four-run second inning. “Not only stuff-wise, velocity, how I felt.”
He traced the command issues to “crazy over-rotating on the front side,” a mechanical glitch Martin said he worked with pitching coach Ethan Katz to fix.
Lefty Cristopher Sanchez (9-2, 2.40) will get the call for the Phillies. Sanchez looks to cap a stellar July in which he is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in four starts covering 30 1/3 innings. Sanchez is coming off a complete-game victory against Boston on Tuesday, allowing one run on four hits with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
Sanchez has pitched at least six innings in nine straight starts.
Martin hasn’t faced the Phillies in his career; Sanchez is facing the White Sox for the first time.