Phillies’ Brandon Marsh has ‘a whole lot of fun’ in his spring debut vs. the Tigers

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh had the energy of a player who hadn’t seen any Grapefruit League action on Wednesday afternoon. The first fly ball of the day came his way in the first inning. It could have dropped for a bloop double, but Marsh sprinted and caught it just in time.

“First play — you wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said. “Tested the waters and felt good.”

Marsh has spent the past month rehabbing his left knee following arthroscopic surgery. He’s played in intrasquad minor league games — approximately 40 plate appearances — and has tried to keep his eyes fresh by using the Trajekt pitching machine, but nothing compares to in-game pitching.

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So, when he stepped up to the plate on Wednesday, in the Phillies’ 4-1 win over the Tigers, he made sure to take in every pitch. Marsh will typically nod his head yes or no at the pitches he takes, if they are close. But in his first Grapefruit League game of the year, there was some added emphasis behind those nods.

Tigers starter Jack Flaherty threw four-seam fastballs out of the zone in Marsh’s first at-bat, and as each pitch whizzed past him, he vigorously shook his head no. Flaherty responded with another fastball that just caught the corner, and a slider for a strike. Marsh emphatically nodded yes. He did the same thing in his next at-bat, finishing his day 0-for-2 with a groundout to shortstop and a flyout to left field.

“For sure [I was amped up],” Marsh said. “Today was a whole lot of fun. The best 0-for-2 I think I’ve ever had. It was good to be back out there and get those jitters out of the way.”

He said his knee didn’t bother him. Manager Rob Thomson said the plan for now will be to give Marsh some DH at-bats on Thursday — after Kyle Schwarber comes out of the game — and give him Friday off. He’s likely to play against the Marlins in Jupiter, Fla., on Saturday.

“That was a whole lot of fun, being back out there with the guys,” Marsh said. “I know it was only a month but it felt like the whole season. Today was a really fun day.”

On the mound: Aaron Nola made his fourth start of the spring, allowing one earned run on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 4⅔ innings. One of the two hits was a solo home run by former Phillies utility man Matt Vierling.

Nola’s four-seam fastball was in the 91-93 mph range, but he threw more changeups on Wednesday than any other pitch (18 of his 62 pitches were changeups). Nola said he’d like to get to six innings (approximately 80 pitches) in his next outing. He expects to pitch in two more outings before the end of spring training.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Thomson said. “One pitch that leaked over the plate to Vierling, other than that, he was in complete command. All of his pitches he was throwing for strikes, getting ahead, and putting people away. Getting a lot of soft contact, and that’s Nola.”

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Who stood out: Kody Clemens made a nice defensive play at third base in the top of the eighth to start a double play, and hit a triple in the bottom half of the inning. He scored on a wild pitch in the next at-bat.

Whit Merrifield hit his second home run of the spring in the sixth inning. He and his wife just welcomed their first child — call it dad strength.

Quotable: “I’ll probably hear about it,” Nola said of Vierling’s homer. “Actually, he’s too nice, so he probably wouldn’t say anything. I’ll shoot him a text. He’s a good ballplayer. I love watching him play. He’s such a good athlete, a professional, and if anyone on that team got one off of me today, I’d rather it be him.”

On deck: The Phillies will play the Boston Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. Thursday at BayCare Ballpark. The game will be broadcast on MLB.com.