DETROIT \u2014 In order for the Phillies to sustain their wild turnaround under Don Mattingly, they were going to need offensive help from more than just their stars.<\/p>\n
Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber have done so much of the heavy lifting this season, and they will continue to do so. That success needed to be supplemented, though.<\/p>\n
When Dave Dombrowski, Preston Mattingly and the Phillies\u2019 front office landed Derek Hill from the White Sox in the second week of June, they were getting, at the very least, the strong half of a platoon. Less than a week earlier, when Chicago was in town, Hill had homered off Jes\u00fas Luzardo.<\/p>\n
Dombrowski was also calling on a familiar player. He drafted Hill in the first round in 2014, when he was the Tigers\u2019 general manager. Hill arrived with a career .491 slugging percentage against left-handed pitching.<\/p>\n
The Phillies needed the help after getting bad news on Adolis Garc\u00eda, who tore his lat two nights earlier in Toronto. It was a real loss defensively, although Garc\u00eda had struggled mightily at the plate for much of his first season in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Hill, a journeyman in his fifth big-league season with six different major-league stops, was at least going to provide athleticism, speed and strong defense at all three outfield spots.<\/p>\n
He has been that, and so much more.<\/p>\n
That has shown up over the last two nights against his former team, including Saturday\u2019s 4-2 win over the Tigers, with Hill filling in for Justin Crawford. Why was it even more impressive beyond the box score?<\/p>\n
Because Hill continues to produce against right-handed pitching.<\/p>\n
A night earlier, he collected all three of Philadelphia\u2019s hits. Each came against a right-hander.<\/p>\n
He contributed again Saturday against another righty, Casey Mize, who was essentially on an audition start against the Phillies as the club weighs its starting pitching options ahead of the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
In the first inning, Hill bounced a ball to Kevin McGonigle, speeding up the rookie\u2019s throw and leading to an error. A few pitches later, Hill stole second. Then he stole third, the first time he has swiped multiple bags in a game in his career. He came around to score on a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
Hill finished with three steals. He would have liked to think that left an impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope so,\u201d Hill said. \u201cKeep it over here. Get them all nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two innings later, with a man on first, left-handed hitter Zach McKinstry lined a ball into left-center field. Hill glided into the gap, left his feet and made a tremendous catch.<\/p>\n
The surroundings helped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was gonna be bang-bang getting there,\u201d Hill said. \u201cBut like I\u2019ve done a couple other times, I know this field a little bit, and I knew it was gonna hang up just a little bit longer than other spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Marsh was nearby, helping Hill with the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis guy back there, helping me out, knowing where the wall was at and everything like that, knowing that I was all good to just send it,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIt was pretty fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those plays are starting to look routine for him. The Phillies had struggled with defense in center field. Hill has shored that up, and then some.<\/p>\n
Mattingly has stopped being surprised by the outfield work.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, not out there at all,\u201d Mattingly said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDerek Hill is doing it all for the Phillies Saturday vs the Tigers\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
What has caught his attention is the rest of Hill\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had great at-bats, though, too,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cIt\u2019s the one thing. I think he came with that tag of really good defender, hit lefties, but he\u2019s been good against righties, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fourth, the Phillies strung together some baserunners. Brandon Marsh walked. Bryson Stott singled. J.T. Realmuto cleared the bases with a clutch two-run double down the line.<\/p>\n
Then, with two outs, Hill fell behind 1-2, worked the count full, took a pitch off the plate and smacked a run-scoring single into left field. He stole his third bag in 3 2\/3 innings before Trea Turner grounded out to end the inning.<\/p>\n
The swing has looked different since Hill arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cA whole lot,\u201d Hill said, when asked what he has worked on with Kevin Long and the Phillies\u2019 hitting group. \u201cI think you can take a look at the videos when I was over with the White Sox versus right now. Just a little bit more in my legs and, approach-wise, just keeping it a little bit more simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill has not only adjusted quickly. He has fit quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThem, they\u2019re incredible,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThey brought me in and welcomed me with open arms. Everybody\u2019s been phenomenal, so it just feels like home. It doesn\u2019t feel like I have to come in and prove anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t blink, but Hill has been the complementary player the Phillies needed. So has Stott. Hill is batting .435 with a 1.176 OPS in 25 plate appearances against right-handed pitching since joining the Phillies.<\/p>\n
This was a .195 career hitter against righties before being traded to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Mattingly sees more than a short-term run.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a student, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that pays attention to how they\u2019re pitching him, what they\u2019re doing to him. He has a good idea what he wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the bottom of the order supplies most of the run production, it makes it hard for the opposing team to recover. Especially when the Phillies get the kind of bounce-back performance Cristopher S\u00e1nchez delivered Saturday.<\/p>\n
One start after allowing nine runs on 12 hits across 3 1\/3 innings, the Phillies left-hander settled in, for the most part. It was not exactly pretty. The Tigers collected 10 hits. Four of the eight leadoff men he faced reached base.<\/p>\n
But that also made S\u00e1nchez\u2019s start impressive, and his defense helped him along the way. Nine of Detroit\u2019s 10 hits were singles.<\/p>\n
Mattingly saw a starter who handled traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally good again,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cHe gave up some hits, but kind of bend, but don\u2019t break today.\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez sharpened up with men on base. The Tigers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.<\/p>\n
His focus between starts was simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to not miss as many pitches as we did last time out,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cTry to execute the game plan that we have and discussed before the game with the coaches and with the catchers. Just try to be aggressive and try to execute that as much as we could.\u201d<\/p>\n
His changeup was strong. Five of his strikeouts came on the pitch, which generated 11 swings and misses.<\/p>\n
The defense behind him helped, too. S\u00e1nchez had plenty of praise for Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a tremendous guy, a tremendous player,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cBoth on defense, offense, with his speed. He\u2019s just a tremendous player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill returned the praise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat guy is incredible,\u201d Hill said of S\u00e1nchez. \u201cOur whole pitching staff is incredible. It\u2019s so fun to be on this side of the Phillies rather than facing the Phillies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies let S\u00e1nchez try to get through the eighth at nearly 100 pitches. He put Jonathan Bowlan in a tough spot, leaving two runners on in a 4-1 game with nobody out.<\/p>\n
Mattingly wanted S\u00e1nchez to have a chance at one more pocket of hitters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just knew it was two hitters,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cFelt good about just trying to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n
It did not go cleanly, but for the second straight inning, the Phillies turned a massive double play. Bowlan allowed just one run to score, opening a save opportunity for Jhoan Duran.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sixth, seventh and eighth, the double-play balls are huge,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cTraffic, we\u2019re able to get two outs out of those, keep those innings down.\u201d<\/p>\n
No panic when the 6-foot-5, 230-pound fireballer trots in from the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Duran notched his 24th save of the season, and the Phillies will look to win the rubber match of the series with Zack Wheeler on the mound Sunday.<\/p>\n
First, S\u00e1nchez will wait to see if the next time he pitches comes in the All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be awesome to start the All-Star Game at home,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cWith the fans, it just would be an awesome thing. It\u2019s another accomplishment and another goal, for sure, but it would be an awesome thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly believes there is a case.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, S\u00e1nchy in Philly would be a great story,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cI would think he would have a good shot at starting, especially being in Philly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 In order for the Phillies to sustain their wild turnaround under Don Mattingly, they were going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,11350,17086],"class_list":["post-241344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-phillies-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}