WASHINGTON — Two of the Phillies’ four right-handed bats were out of the lineup Sunday afternoon, with Trea Turner sidelined again by a low back spasm and J.T. Realmuto missing the series finale at Nationals Park with a foot contusion.
Manager Rob Thomson described both absences as precautionary, and it sounds like they could both be in the lineup for Monday’s home opener against the Rockies.
“J.T. is still sore but it’s more of a precaution than anything,” Thomson said Sunday morning. “We’ll work on him during the game today. We could play him if anything happened to (Rafael) Marchan. And kind of the same thing with Trea. We’re shooting for those guys for tomorrow.”
Realmuto fouled a ball off his foot in his final at-bat Saturday and was removed in the seventh inning of a seven-run game. Turner was scratched an hour before that game after his back locked up fielding a grounder. The Phillies won, 11-6, to improve to 2-0.
Turner thinks the back spasm Saturday was caused by hip tightness late in camp.
“Maybe three or four days left in spring, my right hip,” he said. “Felt good playing, it was more sitting down or sleeping. It felt a little weird, but then when I played, it would feel fine. I think that turned into this.”
Without Turner and Realmuto, the Phillies started Edmundo Sosa at shortstop and Marchan behind the plate. Max Kepler was also out of the lineup against a lefty. Thomson had planned to start Kepler and sit Brandon Marsh against Mitchell Parker but reversed the decision after Marsh went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer on Saturday. The next time the Phillies face a left-handed starting pitcher is Wednesday, Colorado’s Kyle Freeland, and it sounds like Kepler will start that game with Marsh on the bench.
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