Phillies 4, Twins 4: Darick Hall shows how he can make the roster — hit. ‘That’s my calling card’

Swings like Hall took in the fifth inning against the Twins can only help his chances of breaking camp with the Phillies.

Darick Hall celebrates his two-run home run against the Twins in the fifth inning on Wednesday.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published March 1, 2023, 4:28 p.m. ET

FORT MYERS, Fla. — If Darick Hall winds up winning a spot on the Phillies’ opening-day roster, he knows how it’s going to happen.

“I think I’ve got to hit,” he said Wednesday. “That’s my calling card.”

Swings like Hall took in the fifth inning against the Twins can only help. He saw a splitter from Minnesota right-hander Cole Sands and crushed it off the center-field batter’s eye for a two-run home run in a 4-4 tie. The blast was measured at 435 feet.

Hall has hit 126 homers in the minors and walloped nine in only 142 plate appearances last summer after getting called up to fill in as the DH against righties after Bryce Harper broke his thumb. Harper is out again now, recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery.

But the Phillies haven’t anointed Hall as the lefty-swinging DH. Instead, he’s competing for a spot on the bench with Jake Cave, Kody Clemens, and Dalton Guthrie. Cave and Clemens are also left-handed hitters with more positional versatility than Hall, a first baseman/DH. Cave also homered against the Twins.

“I think [left-handed power] is important, but we’ve got a long way to go in spring training,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We’ve got to fit the pieces together. There’s a lot of options we can go to in those last couple spots. But his power is definitely an impact.”

Hall noted that there was something different about the homer against the Twins. It was a rare occasion when he hit an off-speed pitch out of the ballpark without pulling it to right field.

“I’ve hit fastballs that way, but I was thinking about it,” Hall said. “If anything, it’s definitely in the single digits.”

On the mound: In the most hyped Phillies spring-training debut in years, 19-year-old phenom Andrew Painter allowed one run on three hits in two innings. Painter threw mostly fastballs, including a first-pitch fastball to all eight batters, and cutters. He topped out at 99 mph, while averaging 96.8 mph.

What stood out: Cave hit a two-run homer in the second inning. ... Left fielder Simon Muzziotti threw out a runner at second base when Nick Gordon tried to tag up from first on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. ... Faded former top prospect Scott Kingery went 2-for-2 with a walk. ... Francisco Morales gave up two runs on one hit and three walks in the bottom of the ninth.

Quotable: “I told [Twins star Carlos] Correa at first, I was like, ‘You know what I was doing when I was 19? Running morning runs at junior college, trying to make a college team.’ And that dude’s on the cusp of being in the big leagues. It’s really impressive.” — Hall on Painter’s bid for a spot in the Phillies’ rotation

On deck: Bailey Falter will take his first turn in the fifth-starter competition at 12:05 p.m. Thursday against the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Fla. ESPN will televise the game.