Back in the lineup, Bryson Stott comes out hitting for the Phillies

CINCINNATI — The Phillies faced back-to-back lefties on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is why they chose to sit Bryson Stott. But he made the most of his at-bats on Thursday in their 5-0 victory over the Reds in the series finale.

Stott went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, hitting a triple in the third inning and a single in the sixth. The single came off his bat at 100.1 mph. Manager Rob Thomson liked what he saw.

“The triple down the line was kind of a rollover, but the line drive to center field was really good to see,” he said.

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Added Bryce Harper: “Yeah, just get more ABs, right? Just try to go up there and have good ABs, have good opportunities. He’s one of the best defenders in baseball. Got to just get him in the game and let him play.”

Batting .233, Stott has struggled to get into an offensive rhythm to start the season. He is known for his patient at-bats, but the Phillies would like to see him be a little more selectively aggressive in the zone. Thursday’s game was a step in the right direction in that regard.

Harper was back in the lineup Thursday after a short stint on the paternity list. To make room on the active roster, infielder Kody Clemens was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Harper’s wife, Kayla, gave birth to their third child, a girl.

“She’s good, really good,” Harper said. “Everyone is healthy, strong. Really good.”

Taijuan Walker is going to pitch a bullpen session off the mound on Friday and is scheduled to make his first start of the season on Sunday. It is not official that Spencer Turnbull will move to the bullpen yet, but it seems likely.

If that move happens, Thomson said that Turnbull could be used as a long man, but also in some higher-leverage spots.

“He could be a long guy, for a period of time, anyway,” Thomson said. “Let’s just say — if he goes to the bullpen — right now he could give you five, six innings. So as time goes on, and you shorten him up, then the pitch limits get shorter and shorter and shorter. But I view the stuff as leverage stuff, too.”

Turnbull made a point of emphasizing that he feels healthy and isn’t concerned about his workload, despite the fact that he hasn’t pitched a starter’s full regular-season workload since 2019. He underwent Tommy John elbow surgery in 2021. Thomson said the Phillies will take Turnbull’s perspective into consideration, but are also monitoring his velocity, arm angle, spin rate and extension as indicators of his health.

Whatever they decide to do with him, workload-wise, will be based on those two factors. There won’t be a set number that Thomson chooses for his innings limit.

“I haven’t really thought of a number because I trust what the trainers and strength and conditioning guys measure,” Thomson said. “You know, spin rates and velocity and extension and arm angle, things like that that are indicators of whether a guy is getting tired or he’s about to possibly be injured.

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“So I’ve never really thought of it that way. We used to put on 30-40 innings just to be conservative, because we didn’t know. But now I think there is pretty good science to indicate what’s coming.”

Thomson added: “I think there’s a balance. So you take the player’s — what he’s telling you — but you also take the measurements. And those are real indicators. And players lie sometimes, too. So you have to take that into consideration, too, so when the indicators get so great, at some point you’ve got to take the ball away from them, just to keep them safe.”

Thomson said this is how the team approached the workloads for Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez last season.