Good morning! It’s news time:
PHILLIES LOSE: The Phillies didn’t have enough juice to upend the Twins Friday, losing 4-3 to Minnesota.
Jeremy Hellickson battled in a scoreless first but surrendered a Danny Santana home run in the second. Mark Appel gave up a homer in his first inning but rebounded nicely – two strikeouts and three hits over three innings. Alberto Tirado immediately gave up two runs in his outing.
Otherwise, let’s talk for a second about Scott Kingery. The second baseman made a terrific diving play in the sixth, then put together a great at bat in the seventh before swatting a home run, his second of the spring. Kingery is hitting .500 with a 1.622 OPS in the early going.
Kingery will start 2017 in Reading, but it’s possible he starts 2018 in Philadelphia. This is a huge year for Cesar Hernandez, and just as huge for Kingery, who has the hitting tool necessary to get to the majors in some way. It’ll be very interesting to watch how second base unfolds this season.
TODAY’S GAME: The Phils welcome the Braves at 1:05 p.m. Jerad Eickhoff gets his second spring start against an Atlanta split squad. The Phils lineup: Hernandez/Quinn/Kendrick/Franco/Joseph/Cozens/Altherr/Crawford/Haladay.
SINGER’S SONG: Read this Matt Breen piece about pitcher Jeff Singer, who went from Dunphy Ford in Mayfair to working his way up the Phillies farm system.
LIKE THE LINEUP: Pete Mackanin is happy he knows which eight names he’ll be penciling onto the lineup most days.
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