J.T.

Realmuto

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).

Realmuto lined a ball into the right-field corner off Didier Fuentes that scored a pair of runs in the seventh that gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately for Realmuto and the Phillies, that lead would not last. The 35-year-old will be behind the plate in a must-win Game 2 against Atlanta on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old backstop has started behind the dish in each of the Phillies’ last five games, so he’ll get a breather in this one heading into the weekend. Garrett Stubbs will do the catching for the Phillies and will bat ninth against Mets’ right-hander Nolan McLean.

Realmuto put the Phillies on the board with a two-run homer off Grant Holmes in the second inning. He then led off the fifth with a double before driving in a third run with a base hit in the eighth. The 35-year-old backstop is hitting .223/.296/.358 with 11 homers, 50 runs scored, and 49 RBI across 425 plate appearances.

But he did catch a shutout, at least. Realmuto is batting .217/.293/.348. That batting average is 35 points lower than his career-worst mark of .252 from 2023.

Realmuto is 6-for-34 with just one extra-base hit and one RBI this month. Statcast thinks he’s pretty unlucky to be hitting .220/.295/.347, but that .642 OPS would be the worst of his career by more than 50 points; he came in at .696 as a 24-year-old rookie in 2015.

Realmuto led off the second inning with a double off of Miles Mikolas then scored on an RBI single off the bat of Justin Crawford. He then chipped in an RBI single in the third inning that extended the Phillies’ lead to 5-1. He then raced around to score on an RBI double by Bryson Stott. With his two-hit attack, the 35-year-old backstop is now slashing .226/.304/.360 with eight homers and 38 RBI on the season.

Realmuto’s two-run double was the big hit in a low-scoring, 4-2 victory over the Tigers on Saturday. The 35-year-old catcher is hitting .200 with a .619 OPS this season, showing that his bat may be on its last legs.

It’s the second time since early April that Realmuto’s average has dipped under .200. The last time, on June 12, he followed it up by going 4-for-8 with two homers and six RBI in his next two games. Maybe it’ll happen again.

He also picked up his third steal of the year. The homer, his fourth, was a 416-footer off Chad Patrick. Realmuto had just 11 RBI in 47 games this season going into tonight. It’s the 19th time in his career that he’s had four RBI, but just the second time since the start of 2023.