PHILADELPHIA — As the wind whipped and swirled in the second inning at Citizens Bank Park, the last two batters in the Phillies’ lineup made manufacturing a run look like a breeze.
Alec Bohm stepped in the box with no outs and a runner on second base, moving him over to third with a groundout. Brandon Marsh, the No. 9 hitter, followed that up with a sacrifice fly to right field. The trips to the plate were productive.
Bohm and Marsh have struggled so far this season. They’ve been dropped in the order. But both players put together key plate appearances in crucial spots on Tuesday night.
“Everybody was pretty fired up,” manager Rob Thomson said, “seeing those guys to be able to contribute to the club. They love each other, and they want to see their teammates do well.”
Bohm went 1-for-4 with the go-ahead single in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants to even up the series in the second of a four-game set. Marsh went 0-for-3, but hit that sac fly to drive in seven-hole hitter Max Kepler, who hit the ball hard on his way to a 2-for-4 night with a double. The bottom third did what it needed to do, and the entire offense benefited.
“Me and Brandon, if we’re playing up to three-quarters of what we’re capable of and we’re hitting eighth and ninth,” Bohm said, “then we have a really good lineup. Because we’re not eight and nine hitters. It’s that simple, I guess, to lengthen out the order and get us some production down at the bottom of the order today.”
Bohm was an All-Star at third base last season and spent the majority of the year as Philadelphia’s cleanup hitter. But he declined in the second half and was benched in one of the team’s postseason games. Despite making decent contact fairly often, the results haven’t been great to start 2025, and Bohm’s frustrations have been apparent at times. Thomson moved him down in the lineup last week.
Marsh, who hit in different spots last year but was most commonly the No. 7 batter, is still hitless in April and was given a breather on Monday to regroup. He hasn’t had a ton of quality at-bats throughout the season so far.
Behind their performances, the Phillies (10-7) finally got a solid day from the bottom of their order to complement a strong showing from their other pieces. Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto both homered. Bryson Stott went 2-for-4 with a triple out of the leadoff spot. And Bohm delivered a base hit off right-hander Justin Verlander to left-center field to break a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth.
“If we do our job at the bottom of the order,” Marsh said, “you can kind of expect what you’re going to get from the top half. There’s some dogs up there. We do our role better at the bottom, like Max is doing, Bohm’s doing, and we’re going to be a really tough team to beat.”
Thomson suggested that Tuesday night’s game could build confidence for Bohm and Marsh, two teammates and close friends who have gone through it this year. Bohm’s batting average is .162, while Marsh is hitting just .100. Maybe they can use their most recent game as a stepping stone.
Eventually, Bohm and Marsh could potentially work their way back up the batting order if they can get back to the best versions of themselves on a consistent basis. That’ll take time to prove. For now, they can help the team by doing what they can to turn the lineup over and get runs across.
“We know what all those guys are capable of at the top of the order,” Bohm said. “I think lately, we’ve just kind of been outs, and that’s why we’re so frustrated about it, because we know we’re way better than we’ve been. And I think when this whole thing comes together, you’re going to see a pretty deep lineup.”
