Derek Hill kept giving the Phillies a little bit of everything, helping back Cristopher Sánchez in a 4-2 win over the Tigers.
Hill stole three bases, made a standout catch and drove in a run as Cristopher Sánchez made his final case to start the All-Star Game.
DETROIT — 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. 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.
When Dave Dombrowski, Preston Mattingly and the Phillies’ 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 Jesús Luzardo. Dombrowski was also calling on a familiar player. He drafted Hill in the first round in 2014, when he was the Tigers’ general manager.
Hill arrived with a career .491 slugging percentage against left-handed pitching. The Phillies needed the help after getting bad news on Adolis García, who tore his lat two nights earlier in Toronto. It was a real loss defensively, although García had struggled mightily at the plate for much of his first season in Philadelphia.
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. That has shown up over the last two nights against his former team, including Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Tigers, with Hill filling in for Justin Crawford. Why was it even more impressive beyond the box score? A night earlier, he collected all three of Philadelphia’s hits.
Each came against a right-hander. 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. In the first inning, Hill bounced a ball to Kevin McGonigle, speeding up the rookie’s 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.
“I hope so,” Hill said. “Keep it over here. Get them all nervous. ” 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.
“I knew it was gonna be bang-bang getting there,” Hill said. “But like I’ve 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. ”“This 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,” Hill said.
“It was pretty fun. ” 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.
“No, not out there at all,” Mattingly said. What has caught his attention is the rest of Hill’s game.
“He’s had great at-bats, though, too,” Mattingly said. “It’s the one thing. I think he came with that tag of really good defender, hit lefties, but he’s been good against righties, too. ” 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.
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.
“A whole lot,” Hill said, when asked what he has worked on with Kevin Long and the Phillies’ hitting group. “I 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. ”“Them, they’re incredible,” Hill said.
“They brought me in and welcomed me with open arms. Everybody’s been phenomenal, so it just feels like home. It doesn’t feel like I have to come in and prove anything like that. ” Don’t 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. Mattingly sees more than a short-term run.
“He is a student, that’s for sure,” Mattingly said. “He’s a guy that pays attention to how they’re pitching him, what they’re doing to him. He has a good idea what he wants to do. ” 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 Sánchez delivered Saturday. 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. But that also made Sánchez’s start impressive, and his defense helped him along the way. Nine of Detroit’s 10 hits were singles.
“Really good again,” Mattingly said. “He gave up some hits, but kind of bend, but don’t break today. ” Sánchez sharpened up with men on base. The Tigers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.
“Try to not miss as many pitches as we did last time out,” Sánchez said. “Try 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. ” His changeup was strong.
Five of his strikeouts came on the pitch, which generated 11 swings and misses.
“He’s a tremendous guy, a tremendous player,” Sánchez said. “Both on defense, offense, with his speed. He’s just a tremendous player. ”“That guy is incredible,” Hill said of Sánchez.
“Our whole pitching staff is incredible. It’s so fun to be on this side of the Phillies rather than facing the Phillies. ” The Phillies let Sánchez 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.
“I just knew it was two hitters,” Mattingly said. “Felt good about just trying to get through. ” 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.
“The sixth, seventh and eighth, the double-play balls are huge,” Mattingly said. “Traffic, we’re able to get two outs out of those, keep those innings down. ”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.
First, Sánchez will wait to see if the next time he pitches comes in the All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park.
“It would be awesome to start the All-Star Game at home,” Sánchez said. “With the fans, it just would be an awesome thing. It’s another accomplishment and another goal, for sure, but it would be an awesome thing to do. ”“Obviously, Sánchy in Philly would be a great story,” Mattingly said.
“I would think he would have a good shot at starting, especially being in Philly. ”
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