Update: In his first at-bat on Saturday, Didi Gregorius hit another bomb, traveling 417 feet to the second deck in right field. It came on a 0-2 pitch, just after analyst John Kruk had commented on Gregorius’ effortless swing power.
I DID!
Gregorius homered on the second floor to make it all work. 1-0, Phillies. pic.twitter.com/b9fyHjdhW3
– NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 25, 2020
The Phillies’ offense racked up very little in Friday’s season opener loss to Marlins underdog Sandy Alcantara. The Phils had only five hits, four of them singles, and only three at-bats all night with a running back in scoring position.
Two of those five hits came from Didi Gregorius, who hit a home run that tied the game to right field and then hit a single between first and second.
WELCOME TO PHILLY, DIDI GREGORIUS.
A homer to right field and the game is tied. pic.twitter.com/Xl0vGfcRGH
– NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 25, 2020
Gregorius became the first Phillie to homer in his debut for the team since the opening day of 2019 when Andrew McCutchen did so on his first at-bat. Gregorius has a slug-friendly swing at Citizens Bank Park. Long before he homered on Friday night, you could imagine him throwing balls to the first or second deck in right field with that slight uppercut. In a full season, he could hit 30 home runs here. His highest career was 27 with the Yankees in 2018, when he played in only 134 games.
However, the hope would be that he doesn’t fall in love with the short front porch to the right and can also reach the base at a higher rate than his .313 career mark.
“I always try to hit a pitch in the middle,” said Gregorius after the game. “It was the first time I faced [Alcantara]. She tries not to get out of her fastball, that’s all I tried to do. His plumb line, he cast 97-98, his plumb line moved a lot. He had hitters chasing, that’s something he had against us. “
There were aerial crashes after Gregorius’ homer, the 2020 norm. During pregame introductions, there were about a dozen elbow punches. It’s new to fans, but players already seem to be used to it.
“We have to talk, we have to pretend to crash all five and all that,” said Gregorius. “We see what is happening and we are prepared for it.”
The Phillies ‘struggles against the Marlins obviously predate Gregorius’ arrival. Since their last game in the 2018 season, the Marlins are 12-9 against the Phillies and 52-113 against everyone else, a winning percentage of .315.
Gregorius had heard about it and had a conversation with some teammates about it on the bench.
“I actually talked to the boys during the game because I found out, but listening is different than playing,” he said. “Some guys said for some reason they always catch us. We have to try to stop him, beat them and play a good game.”
Doing so has been much more difficult than saying for the Phillies, who have nine more games with the Marlins this season and they would surely like to win this series before playing four consecutive games against the Yankees.
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