Phillies’ Andrew McCutchen will remain in leadoff spot despite early-season struggles

Andrew McCutchen has batted in the leadoff spot in each of his 125 starts for the Phillies since the beginning of the 2019 season.

An early-season funk won’t bring an end to that streak.

McCutchen wasn’t in the Phillies’ lineup Tuesday night because manager Joe Girardi wanted to load up on left-handed hitters against San Francisco Giants righty Logan Webb. (Rhys Hoskins didn’t start for the same reason.) But when McCutchen gets back in there, likely for Wednesday’s series-finale matinee at Citizens Bank Park, he will be back atop the batting order.

“It’s not something that I’ve said that I’m going to do,” Girardi said of dropping McCutchen to a lower spot. “I know the average isn’t where we want it. I know it’s not where he wants it. But he has managed a way to get some walks and grind out some at-bats. Sixteen games does not make a season.”

McCutchen was 8-for-51 (.157) with two extra-base hits and 11 walks through Monday night’s 2-0 loss to the Giants. Among 20 players who have spent at least 10 games in the leadoff spot this season, he ranks 17th with a .311 on-base percentage.

But Girardi cited McCutchen’s on-base percentage against right-handed pitchers (.366) as one reason to keep him in the top spot.

Two other reasons: patience and track record.

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“We’ve played 10% [of the season],” Girardi said. “Guys have tough two-week spans or even a month span sometimes, and they eventually come out of it. You try to look at the back of their baseball card and say, ‘OK, who is this guy really?’ But obviously it’s important for our club that we get him going, and we’re going to do everything we can.”

The Phillies were hopeful that a two-hit, three-RBI game last Friday night would jump-start McCutchen. But he was 1-for-10, albeit with four walks, in his next three games.

“To me, it’s timing,” Girardi said. “At times I feel like he’s a second late, so he has to catch up and that leads to ground balls. He’s a big ‘feel’ guy, and he just hasn’t felt it consistently this year.”

Reserve outfielder Matt Joyce occupied the leadoff spot Tuesday night. But the Phillies lack leadoff alternatives among their everyday players.

Second baseman Jean Segura, a .303 hitter with a .345 on-base percentage in 363 career starts in the leadoff spot, could be a possibility, although he left Tuesday night’s game with a strained right quadriceps after grounding out to end the second inning.

Regardless, Segura doesn’t typically see as many pitches as McCutchen. Segura also has bolstered the lower half of a lineup that hasn’t gotten any production out of the No. 8 spot because of the struggles of the Phillies’ center fielders.

“I’m here to work. I’m here to make the team better,” Segura said Monday night. “I’m not going to have any issue with where they put me in the lineup. I’ve been playing this game for many, many years, and I know what it takes.”

Didi Gregorius missed a second consecutive game with a sore right elbow, allowing for a encore start at shortstop for 24-year-old rookie Nick Maton.

Maton, the Phillies’ seventh-round pick in 2017 out of Jayson Werth’s old high school in Illinois, made his major league debut Monday night and picked up his first hit, a two-out single in the sixth inning against Giants starter Kevin Gausman. Maton’s older brother, Phil, is a reliever with the Cleveland Indians.

“It was pretty surreal watching him for the first time,” Maton recalled of attending one of Phil’s first appearances for the San Diego Padres in 2017. “You’re like, ‘It’s actually possible. You can do that.’ It kind of helped me out a little bit, having someone I could talk to about all this.”

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The Phillies optioned lefties Damon Jones and Cristopher Sanchez, neither of whom pitched after being called up Monday, and recalled lefty Bailey Falter and right-hander Ramón Rosso from the Lehigh Valley alternate training site. Falter will be used in the long-relief role vacated with Vince Velasquez scheduled to start Friday night in Colorado in place of Matt Moore (COVID list). ... Left-hander Ranger Suárez and outfielder Cornelius Randolph were added to the Phillies’ player pool and assigned to the alternate site. ... The Phillies signed free-agent lefty reliever Rob Kaminsky and assigned him to the alternate site. Kaminsky, 26, had a 1.93 ERA in 4 2/3 innings for the St. Louis Cardinals last season. ... Veteran infielder Neil Walker, who batted .231 in 18 games for the Phillies last season, announced his retirement. ... Zach Eflin will start Wednesday against Giants right-hander Anthony DeSclafani.