Mar 26, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh (16) hits a double during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
PHILADELPHIA — After getting blanked for the second straight game by the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Phillies manager Rob Thomson hinted that a lineup change was coming.
There was a lot of speculation about the middle of the order. Might he flip the two righties, Alec Bohm and Adolis Garcia as well as the two lefties, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh?
That seemed to make sense as Garcia has hit the ball hard and Marsh has gotten off to a strong start while both Bohm and Stott have struggled.
And Thomson may have done that had he been facing anyone else besides the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend.
See, the D-backs do not have a left-handed reliever in their bullpen. Nor are they starting their one lefty starter (Eduardo Rodriguez) in this series.
So, it'll be all righties for the Phillies to face. And knowing that, Thomson decided to stack the lineup with them.
As such, the only change was swapping Marsh and Bohm, giving the Phillies four straight lefties after Trea Turner leads off.
Bohm, who has gotten off to a very slow start (.186/271/279; .550 OPS), will drop to seventh, which still gives the Phillies a pocket of righties toward the bottom lineup that Arizona can attack with their slew of righty relievers, but Thomson sees that as a worthy trade off for the opportunity to stack the lefties.
Rob Thomson explains why Brandon Marsh is hitting cleanup tonight.
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/l2btBNIiwW
"He's been swinging the bat well. Ever since last May he's swung the bat great," Thomson said of Marsh. "Now, that doesn't mean he's going to stay in the four spot, but they don't have a lefty, so we can stay with the same lineup. Once we get through this and we find out if there's a lefty in the pen, then we'll switch it around a little bit."
As for Bohm, Thomson feels that sliding him down in the lineup could take some pressure off him and get him back in his groove.
"Just him getting back to being himself," he said. "Using the field. We had 10 or 11 pull-side groundballs the other day. I think guys are trying to do too much. Swinging early in the count. (They need to) work counts. Work over pitchers. Chew up pitchers. Use the field. Keep moving the line."
The question was about Bohm, but the answer could cover Stott, too, as he has been very aggressive early in counts, getting away from the patient hitter he's been for most of his career. So far this season, Stott has chased 42.5% of pitches out of the zone. His career average is 27.6%.
