Alec Bohm sits, Bryce Harper DHs versus Astros

Sosa was removed from Wednesday’s game due to a groin injury that he aggravated while hustling out an infield single. He’ll start at third base and bat seventh for the Phillies on Thursday evening. Bryan De La Cruz will start in left field in place of Brandon Marsh. Here’s the full lineup that the Phillies will use against Braves’ opener Ray Kerr to start Thursday’s game: Trea Turner (SS), Kyle Schwarber (DH), Bryce Harper (RF), Alec Bohm (1B), Bryson Stott (2B), Bryan De La Cruz (LF), Edmundo Sosa (3B), J.T. Realmuto (C) and Justin Crawford (CF).

The Braves grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh after defensive miscues from Bohm on a sac bunt and Harper on a fly to right, but the Phillies came right back in the eighth, with Schwarber and Harper taking Dylan Lee deep after Lee went the entire regular season without ever allowing a homer to a lefty. Andrew Painter kept things tied afterwards, and Bohm hit a rare opposite field homer off Didier Fuentes in the 10th to give the Phillies the lead. Bohm’s homer was his third in 40 career postseason games. Including the regular season, it’s his ever extra-inning homer. Game 3 will take place Thursday. The Braves are expected to throw Grant Holmes as a starter or bulk guy, with the Phillies likely starting Aaron Nola and perhaps going to Zack Wheeler later.

This is not a major surprise after Arraez sprained his ankle just this week. Phillies manager Don Mattingly said, “We still get improvement every day, but not enough. He was going to try to hit today and just wasn’t able to do it. So, we kind of crossed that bridge today.” There’s a chance that Arraez will be able to return for the NLDS, but, for now, Triple-A Lehigh Valley utility player Otto Kemp will take Arraez’s place on the roster. The Phillies figure to move Bryson Stott back to second base, but it remains to be seen if they move Alec Bohm back to third and Bryce Harper to first or if they just insert Edmundo Sosa into the lineup at third base.

Bohm put the Phillies on the board with a base hit in the fourth inning to drive in a run. He then collected his second RBI with another base hit in the fifth before drawing a walk to reach for a third time in the seventh. The 30-year-old third baseman is hitting .251/.317/.390 with 15 homers and 86 RBI across 600 plate appearances.

The Nationals literally could not get Bohm out here. The three walks he drew were three of 13 total by Washington pitchers in this game and the first time Bohm walked thrice since June of the 2021 season. He had a catastrophic first half of the season, but has been red-hot since the All-Star break with a .314/.383/.461 slash line as the Phillies push towards the postseason.

Bohm had a huge Friday. First, on the field where his double and home run brought home the only two runs his Phillies would score against Chris Sale and the Braves’ bullpen here. Also, off the field where he finally settled his lawsuit against his parents for mismanaging his finances and misrepresented their stakes in LLCs run on his behalf. Clearly an unfortunate and heavy situation, it makes sense that it would’ve weighed on him as he struggled for the first few months of the season. However, he has a .318 batting average and .847 OPS in the second half as he’s gotten himself back on track.

The Phillies have their full lineup ready to roll as they attempt to win their 10th consecutive game in this one. Bohm is back at first base and hitting fifth after sitting out Sunday’s game against the Cardinals with a hamstring issue. It doesn’t appear to be a significant concern at the moment.

Bohm made an early exit from Saturday’s game due to cramping in his hamstring/groin area, so the Phillies will give him an extra day off to make sure that it doesn’t develop into a long-term issue. Kyle Schwarber will make a rare start at first base in his place while Bryce Harper functions as the team’s designated hitter and Bryan De La Cruz gets a start in right field.

Bohm left the rout of the Cardinals early, but it’s something he’s been playing through without it bothering him at the plate. We’ll call him probable for Sunday.

Bohm came up with the Phillies down one, runners on the corners and none out in the 10th and delivered a 386-foot barrel to center. A quality center fielder would have caught it, which still would have resulted in a game-tying sac fly, but José Fermín, who was playing his third position of the night after Everson Pereira was lifted, came up a little short of making a sliding catch. All three of Bohm’s hits tonight left the bat at 103-105 mph. He’s 17-for-37 with seven extra-base hits and 11 RBI in his last nine games.