Phillies 4, Pirates 3: Aaron Nola solid in second start, Edmundo Sosa evolving in CF
Nola allowed one earned run in three innings and Sosa showed that he is a work in progress in center field.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — For the first two innings of Saturday’s game, Rich Hill had the Phillies fooled. The 43-year-old Pirates starter mixed his 68 mph slider with his 88 mph fastball with his 69-70 mph sweeping curveball. It was an atypical but effective strategy, and it worked. The Phillies got only one hit off of Hill in their 4-3 Grapefruit League win, with one walk and two strikeouts.
When Hill exited the game, for Pirates’ lefty Jarlín García, the Phillies immediately started to make hard contact. Jhailyn Ortiz led off the third with an 102.2 mph single. Kyle Schwarber followed him with a 111.7 mph RBI single — his first hit of the spring. And Alec Bohm followed that with two-run, opposite-field home run to right center field that came off his bat 104.9 mph to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.
It was Bohm’s second home run of the spring. The third baseman is hitting .357/.400/.786 with a 1.186 OPS through five spring training games.
On the mound: Aaron Nola made his second start of the spring, allowing one hit, two runs (one earned run) with no walks and two strikeouts in three innings. After Ke’Bryan Hayes scored on a Ji-Man Choi sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, Nola retired his next eight batters.
Reliever Connor Brogdon, who entered the game in the fifth, gave the Phillies another quick 1-2-3 inning. His fastball is sitting in the mid-90s. Brogdon has yet to allow a hit or a walk this spring.
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What stood out: Utility man Edmundo Sosa started in center field for the second time in his career. Entering Saturday’s game, Sosa had only one-third of an innings worth of experience at the position, and has been working on it this spring with first base coach Paco Figueroa. He is still a work in progress. In the first, Sosa received a tough initial test when Hayes hit a liner to the left-center field wall. Sosa was able to track it down but the ball went over his glove.
Sosa made a sliding grab in the fourth inning, but followed that with a single by Connor Joe that fell between Sosa, second baseman Bryson Stott and shortstop Scott Kingery.
On deck: Right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler will make his second start of the spring against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. at 1:07 p.m. Sunday. The game will be streamed on WIP 94.1 FM.