With the first exhibition game of the summer coming up on Saturday, veteran players such as Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto and Andrew Knapp had a day off in Friday night’s intrasquad game. Bryce Harper, Scott Kingery and Andrew McCutchen were among those in action. The home team in pinstripes pulled through against the road team in red by a score of 7-1.
McCutchen brought in two with a pair of RBI singles, Harper doubled and scored a run and Neil Walker “walked-off” the game with a two-run home run.
Two Phillies who were out with COVID-19 made their return. Tommy Hunter pitched in relief of home team starter JoJo Romero and Mikie Mahtook batted eighth for the away Phillies in red. General manager Matt Klentak announced on July 7 that both Hunter and Mahtook tested positive for COVID-19. Mahtook learned of his diagnosis while going through intake screening in Philadelphia.
Hunter allowed one run on a Nick Williams triple to right field. Mahtook went 0-for-1 with a sacrifice fly.
The game’s two starters, Romero and Connor Seabold, were excellent in their three innings of work. Romero struck out three while not allowing any runs to score. Seabold allowed Deivy Grullón to score from second base on a McCutchen single.
The Phillies also experimented with the new extra-innings rule by putting a runner on second to begin the inning starting in the fourth. Of the eight times both Phillies teams attempted to simulate the extra-innings rule, only twice did the team batting fail to score.