Phillies’ injury list continues to grow as Sosa heads to 10-day DL Originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
MIAMI – Bryce Harper, who started at designated hitter, missed the first pitch he faced from Miami starter Edward Cabrera at loanDepot Park on Sunday. More importantly, he winced in pain as he did so.
“I think I said a couple days ago that when I swing and miss, it’s going to hurt,” said Harper, who is dealing with elbow and wrist soreness. “We’ll probably see that throughout the rest of the year. It’s just one of those things.”
In the seventh inning, he hit a long fly ball to left field that bounced off the top of the wall and became a double. A foot or so and it would have been a home run. That wouldn’t have changed the outcome of a 10-1 loss. But it would have been his first home run after a drought of 109 plate appearances.
“Man, I’ll take the hits any way I can right now,” he said. “Obviously, the home runs are going to come. I know it’s been a while. But I’ve been hitting some good shots and getting some good results. So I just have to keep going.”
“We have to keep moving forward, keep moving forward. This division is nowhere near over. Obviously, there are two good teams (Atlanta, New York) behind us. We’re going to play the Mets a couple of times. We have to keep moving forward. We can’t really worry about the Magic Number or anything like that. We have to keep working hard and stay as healthy as we can. But we still have to play the games.”
Yes, about that…
The Phillies’ injury list continued to grow Sunday.
Infielder Edmundo Sosa was placed on the 10-day injured list before the series finale against the Marlins. “As he was getting ready to go into the cage (Saturday) he felt something in his back,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Then he went and hit it a little bit and felt it. And he felt it again this morning.”
The Phillies used that roster spot to add right-hander Seth Johnson, who made his major league debut at loanDepot Park.
Third baseman Alec Bohm (hand) and outfielder Austin Hayes (kidney infection) have been placed on the injured list during this series. Also, catcher JT Realmuto has not played the past two games after taking a foul ball off his knee Friday night.
Realmuto said Sunday that the swelling and soreness had improved noticeably. Thomson said he could return in a day or two.
With Harper at DH, the Phillies fielded a modified lineup Sunday. Kody Clemens was at first base in his place and regular DH Kyle Schwarber was in left field. Westin Wilson was at third and third-string catcher Aramis Ramirez was behind the plate.
UP NEXT: The Phillies open a three-game homestand Monday against the Rays. Tampa Bay has not announced who will start against left-hander Cristopher Sanchez (10-9, 4.45) in the opener. It will be right-hander Taj Bradley (6-10, 4.40) against left-hander Ranger Suarez (12-6, 2.90) on Tuesday and right-hander Shane Baz (2-3, 3.27) against right-hander Zack Wheeler (14-6, 2.59) on Wednesday. All games begin at 6:40 p.m.
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