PHILADELPHIA ¨C Edmundo Sosa might be back on the Phillies¡¯ bench on Wednesday.
He understands. It¡¯s his job.
Sosa is a bench guy. He is just one player on a 26-man roster, although he considers himself more of a sixth man in basketball than anything. He believes he can produce, whenever he has an opportunity to play. He is somebody he hopes teammates and fans can trust to get the job done.
¡°Obviously, this is not basketball,¡± Sosa said through the team¡¯s interpreter following Monday¡¯s 6-1 victory over the Rockies in the home opener at Citizens Bank Park. ¡°There¡¯s many more players here. There¡¯s many of us, too, bench players who come here to do their jobs. I feel good that I¡¯m here. I¡¯m with the Phillies. Great city, great teammates. I¡¯m on the best baseball team that there is. It¡¯s just that. Going out with that mentality. Everybody knows they have to do their job.
¡°Sadly, we have our superstar shortstop a little hurt right now. Hopefully, he¡¯ll be back soon.¡±
Sosa started at shortstop in the Phillies¡¯ home opener because Trea Turner had been sidelined since Saturday with back spasms. Sosa went 4-for-8 with a double in two weekend games in Washington.
His sixth-man efforts continued on Monday.
The Phillies had runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh when Sosa faced Rockies right-hander Victor Vodnik. Sosa had already doubled in the fifth, but nobody would have batted an eye if Phillies manager Rob Thomson had pinch-hit Kody Clemens for him.
But Thomson let Sosa hit.
¡°He's in the game,¡± Thomson said. ¡°Vodnik's not a real traditional guy, he's pretty even [splits]. And Sosa's been swinging the bat well, so I decided to stay with him.¡±
Sosa ripped a double to the right-center-field wall to score two runs and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead, giving Sosa multiple hits in three consecutive games for the third time in his career.
¡°I¡¯m always preparing myself,¡± Sosa said. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to be on the field playing when I go to the gym. That comes with batting practice and the defense as well. I always assume that I'm going to have playing time, and that's what keeps me in a good spot to produce whenever I'm on the field.
¡°I take myself seriously every day. And I assume that I'm going to have some game time. I think that's been something that's worked to have that rhythm whenever I do play.¡±
Kyle Schwarber followed Sosa with a two-run home run off the batter¡¯s eye in center field to make it 4-1, sending a sellout crowd into a frenzy. Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning as the Phillies cruised to their third win in four games.
Kepler got an extended ovation in left field before the top of the eighth inning.
¡°It¡¯s all kind of a blur to me right now,¡± Kepler said.
It helped erase another slow start against another starter. MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and Germ¨¢n M¨¢rquez have held the Phillies to two runs in 23 1/3 innings in four games.
That¡¯s a 0.77 ERA.
But with M¨¢rquez out of the game, the Phils got to work. Bryson Stott started the seventh-inning rally with a two-out double to right. Turner pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh and worked a six-pitch walk.
Turner had not played since Opening Day because of his back, but he said he felt great after fielding ground balls before Monday¡¯s game. Turner expects to play on Wednesday.
In all likelihood, it will be back to the bench for Sosa. But the Sixth Man will stay ready.
¡°I was having a little bit of a tough stretch during my career,¡± said Sosa, who joined the Phils from St. Louis in a July 2022 trade. ¡°I didn't have many opportunities with my previous organization. The Phillies just embraced me. They treated me like a superstar from the first day, and I think that's something that played a lot into, you know, embracing these roles. Giving the best of myself here and working every day.
¡°It could be that maybe in other organizations, I might have more playing time, but I'm here. I'm playing here. I'm focused here. And I'm working every day here. That's all I'm thinking about as of right now. And also to bring a World Series to this beautiful city that deserves it.¡±