WASHINGTON — The prevailing, modern thought around baseball is that batting order construction doesn’t matter much.
On Opening Day, for the Phillies, it sure did.
Leading off Trea Turner rather than Kyle Schwarber forced the Nationals to use a right-handed reliever instead of a lefty to begin the seventh inning up by a run against the top of the Phillies’ order.
It worked in the Phillies’ favor as Bryce Harper took righty Lucas Sims deep to center field on the first pitch he saw, a low-and-in heater, and Schwarber put them ahead by doing the same to lefty Jose Ferrer two batters later.
Jordan Romano blew the save by allowing two eighth-inning runs in a rocky debut, but the Phillies’ revised lineup came through again with two outs in the 10th to win it. After Brandon Marsh failed to get a bunt down and struck out for the fourth time and Turner lined out softly, Harper walked to bring up Alec Bohm, the Phillies’ most consistent bat with runners in scoring position, a .310 career hitter in those spots. Bohm delivered the game-winning blow, a two-run double to left-center, and the Phillies broke open a 7-3 win with a two-run triple by J.T. Realmuto, who struck out his first four times up.
Had to be a pretty good feeling for Bohm, whose offseason began with two months of trade rumors.
Before the game, Phillies manager Rob Thomson confirmed that for now, he will lead off Turner against lefties and Schwarber vs. righties. Turner was 0-for-4 with a walk, seeing 28 pitches in his five plate appearances, which is the kind of grind the Phillies want from him at the plate. It could not only lead to more walks for Turner but it gives Harper more pitches to see in the on-deck circle.
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The Phillies started five left-handed hitters, a highly unusual number against a southpaw. But Nats starter Mackenzie Gore, who absolutely dominated them on Thursday with six scoreless, one-hit innings and 13 strikeouts, has reverse platoon splits and they want to give Max Kepler and Marsh the opportunity to face same-handed pitching. This won’t always be the case — it will likely depend on the arsenal and delivery of the lefty starter. The next two the Phillies might face are Blake Snell and Chris Sale in their third and fourth series of the season. Those stick out as games Edmundo Sosa and Johan Rojas could start.
The game was decided long after both starters departed. Zack Wheeler did what he often does, keeping his opponents off balance en route to one run over six innings. This was his sixth Phillies season debut and he’s allowed no runs or one run in five of them.
Romano aside, the rest of the Phillies’ late-inning relievers pitched well. Orion Kerkering had two runners in scoring position with one out in the seventh after two unlucky bloops but dealt his way out of it. Jose Alvarado pumped 101 mph fastballs by the Nats in a scoreless ninth. And Matt Strahm, after missing most of spring training with a left shoulder injury and then a gash on his finger, went 1-2-3 in the 10th inning to close it out.
Lefty or righty, the Phils won’t face a starter as good as Gore for over a week. It wasn’t a perfect Opening Day — the Phillies struck out 19 times in all — but they all count the same.
