The Phillies held a red-and-white game Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, complete with uniforms, four umpires, walk-up music and statistics on the scoreboard. It was treated like a match.
One team was captained by Kyle Schwarber and coached by third base coach Dusty Wathan, while the other team was led by Bryce Harper and captained by first base coach Paco Figueroa.
“I was really excited about the intensity,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Everybody really went after it.”
This was a key part of the Phils’ bye week, keeping the intensity up, giving hitters a look at live pitching, and giving pitchers a chance to work to avoid too long a layoff.
All members of the Phillies’ bullpen appeared in the game except for their most important reliever, Jeff Hoffman. When he woke up in the morning, his neck was stiff, but Thomson wasn’t worried, saying, “I slept on the wrong side, but I’ll be fine,” and said the right-handed pitcher would be fine to go Saturday.
Suarez, a Ranger, started for one team and threw 21 pitches in two innings at 92 to 93 mph, Thomson said. This match was not shown to the media.
Suarez will be in the starting lineup for Game 4 of the NLDS if needed. The Phillies have not revealed their starting lineup for Games 2 and 3. The first fight will be against Zack Wheeler, and the next two will be between Aaron Nola and Christopher Sanchez, but Thomson hasn’t said which side he’s leaning on yet. One of the important factors is the opponent. The Mets are right-handed, while the Brewers are more balanced.
Thomson said Spencer Turnbull appeared in the match but was “a little shaky”. Turnbull could play in later rounds, but he doesn’t seem like the frontrunner for the Phillies’ last bullpen spot in the National League, which could go to Max Lazar or Colby Allard.
Mr Thomson said of Mr Turnbull: “In my opinion he still needs a bit of work, but you never know.”
The Kohaku match ended in a 5-5 draw. Schwarber’s team led 5-3 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, when Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back home runs off left-hander Tanner Banks to tie the score. Weston Wilson also hit a home run off Allard.
Johan Rojas played after missing the final weekend in D.C. due to illness. So was Austin Hayes, who missed the last two games with back soreness.
The Phillies will hold a voluntary workout on Thursday before Saturday’s first pitch at 4:08 p.m., followed by a full team workout on Friday around 4 p.m.