BALTIMORE – Like sending Derek Jeter to bat instead of a guy named Derek at the company softball game. Like kids choosing sides in a basketball game and choosing Charles Barkley first.
The Orioles’ decision to intentionally walk Bryce Harper with one out and a runner on second in the top of the 11th inning Friday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and pitch to Alec Bohm was even easier than that .
Not just because Harper is one of the most feared clutch hitters in baseball. Also because Bohm, an RBI machine earlier in the season, had recently struggled at the plate. Coming into the game, he was hitting .164 in his last 17 games with just 6 RBIs.
“I don’t take it as disrespectful or anything like that,” he said after doubling both runners to give the Phillies a lead. 5-3 victory over the Orioles. “Obviously they’re going to walk Bryce and try the double play with one out. That’s just a baseball thing. And obviously you’re going to walk Bryce Harper no matter who’s hitting. “That’s exactly what you do.”
His big moment came after a rain delay, which stopped the game just after a strange series of events when the Phillies and Orioles each had a play at the plate reviewed. The Phillies’ was denied, Baltimore’s was overturned, and that’s what pushed the end of this game past the start of the 11 o’clock news.
“As a whole, this team is able to put things behind us and just keep playing,” Bohm added.
Rehabilitation and list are important
• Brandon Marsh started in center field and went 1-for-3 for Double-A Reading on Friday night. Rob Thomson said it didn’t matter to him that he played center instead of left, where he has had most of his playing time. The manager said it’s “a possibility” that Marsh, who is on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, could be activated in time to rejoin the team Saturday at Oriole Park.
• Shortstop Trea Turner (hamstring) ran the bases under simulated playing conditions before Friday’s game and will do the same on Saturday. He wouldn’t rule out having him back in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale.
• The question of where Marsh played is relevant because the team has two roster decisions to make when he and Turner are activated. Assuming Weston Wilson is one, they could also send David Dahl back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, but he has been a productive bat in seven games (six of the team’s starts in left) since he was called up. Cristian Pache has no options and up to this point the Phillies have shown little interest in exposing him to waivers. The other option seems to be to opt for Johan Rojas.
If Rojas leaves, Marsh would likely take over in the center with Pache and Dahl splitting time on the left. Marsh went 3-for-5 for the Fightin Phils against Portland as a designated hitter in his first rehab game on Thursday.
• It will be Phillies RHP Taijuan Walker (3-1, 5.40) against RHP Grayson Rodríguez (7-2, 3.27) on Saturday at 4:05 pm followed by RHP Zack Wheeler (8-3, 2.16) against RHP Corbin Burnes. (7-2, 2.08) Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
You Might Also Like
- WWE legend Sasha Banks confirms switch to AEW – under the ring name Mercedes Moné – with electric debut appearance in Boston
- Jesse Lingard receives scathing reprimand from FC Seoul boss after ‘didn’t work hard’ as substitute, just three games into K-League move
- Man City’s bubble of victimhood has their fans drowning in a sense of injustice. It’s time for them to stand up to their interloper owners and declare: ‘Enough’, writes IAN HERBERT
- Cole Palmer is the first Chelsea player to win the Premier League Player of the Month award for SIX YEARS after surprising with seven goals in April… while Everton’s Sean Dyche takes the manager’s award for ensuring safety of the Toffees.
