Bryan

De La Cruz

He also went 2-for-4 in his first game. The Phillies seem to be leaning towards keeping De La Cruz around next year after he hit .280/.349/.413 in 34 games in the second half of the season. If so, it’d probably be as a platoon partner to Brandon Marsh in left field.

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).

With Luis Arraez sidelined with an ankle injury, Sosa will enter the lineup at third base, and Bryson Stott will shift back to second base. The team will leave Alec Bohm at first base and Bryce Harper in right field. With Chris Sale on the mound, it will be Bryan De La Cruz in left field and Brandon Marsh heading to the bench.

It was a little surprising to see Stott in the lineup versus Chris Sale in the first place, but the Phillies surely wanted his defense on the field. Bryan De La Cruz has replaced him, with Edmundo Sosa moving from left field to third base.

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.

The game, already halted for two hours in the third, was delayed for a second time as the bottom of the sixth was about to start and never resumed. De La Cruz’s homer off Kyle Bradish accounted for the only scoring prior to the first delay. He’s 9-for-20 with two homers in eight appearances since being summoned from Triple-A on July 21, which should ensure that he sticks around in the likely event that the Phillies add an outfielder before the deadline. That could result in Gabriel Rincones Jr. returning to Triple-A.

De La Cruz had three plate appearances before Brandon Marsh hit for him in the ninth. The plan is for De La Cruz to start against lefties, but if he can get hot quickly, he might stake a claim in right field with Gabriel Rincones Jr. struggling to start his major league career. The Phillies, though, are almost certainly going to acquire an outfield before the deadline.

The Phillies are slated to face a couple left-handed starters in the next few days, which is why De La Cruz is getting a look for the first time this season. The 29-year-old hit .191 (9-for-47) in 16 games for the division-rival Braves last year. He started his career with the Marlins, which means he just needs to find a way to latch on with the Nationals and Mets in the future to fill up his NL East bingo card.

De La Cruz exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Phillies, so the club did what they had to do in order to bring him back and keep him in the organization as quality outfield depth. The 29-year-old has hit .254/.343/.426 with 12 homers and 51 RBI in 328 plate appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season.

The Phillies have one of the deepest and most talented bullpens in all of baseball, so it was always going to be tough for Shugart to crack the Opening Day roster. De La Cruz’s chances of earning a spot took a big hit when the Phillies announced that Justin Crawford had made the team. Both players will start out the year as extra depth at the Triple-A level.