Saunders finally shows some life in latest loss
PHILADELPHIA » So diminished are the expectations on Michael Saunders that the lineout the Phillies’ right fielder hit with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Saturday rated as a positive.
But viewed through a process-driven lens, three quality at-bats in four trips to the plate is a reason for hope that the veteran could be escaping his recent slide.
Saunders singled in the fourth, snapping an 0-for-19 slump. He doubled in the sixth, when the Phillies’ scored their only run in a 5-1 setback to the Arizona Diamondbacks. And he worked a seven-pitch at-bat in the seventh with the sacks packed, only a leaping snare by Paul Goldschmidt at first standing between Saunders and a run-scoring double down the line.
“It was a tough at-bat against a lefty for Saunders,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “But he hit that line drive, and if it’s over his head, it could be a three-run double and whole different game.”
“I feel like I battled and put together a good, quality atbat,” Saunders said. “Most important, I put myself in a position to succeed. Obviously the outcome wasn’t what I wanted; I would’ve obviously rather it dropped. But that being said, working off that AB, building the confidence off that at-bat and just looking to take it into tomorrow and hopefully keep the ball rolling.”
Nothing has been rolling for Saunders, who had just one hit in June. As a result, he’d sat four of the last five games and was making just his eighth start of the month.
The two hits, his first multihit outing since May 28, elevate his average to .206, hardly a return on an investment for the one-year, $9 million pact he signed as a free agent in the offseason. But with time away from the lineup this week, Saunders has been afforded the space to clear his head and regain confidence.
“I know I haven’t been playing anywhere close to where I should be and where I want to be,” Saunders said. “I think getting a couple of days just to catch my breath a little bit was good. I’m just looking to take it one day at a time, baby steps. I’m not looking to hit .300 by tomorrow.
“I realize there’s a lot of season left. I realize where I’m at right now as well. So it’s one of those things where it’s going to take one AB at a time.”
Though it ended a rally, Saunders’ battle with Andrew Chafin was promising. Chafin has developed into one of the National League’s top lefty relievers, allowing just seven hits to lefties in the last 53 confrontations spanning 13 months. Lefties are hitting .189 against him this year.
But Saunders fought off a slider — two pitches after Chafin induced him to swing through a breaking ball in the dirt — then pulled an 84 mph slider down the line for Goldschmidt to glove.
“That’s something we want all our guys to do, battle, grind out at-bats,” Mackanin said. “He did that.”
That a two-hit hint of a pulse at the plate from Saunders constitutes a positive is a referendum on the current state of the Phillies, who have lost 10 of 11 and 36 of 47.
Once again, they backed Jerad Eickhoff with hardly any offense. Eickhoff battled through six innings, scattering five hits, three walks and two strikeouts against just one earned run. He was helped out in the sixth when Aaron Altherr gunned down Jake Lamb at the plate for an inning-ending double play on Chris Iannetta’s flyout.
But the bats provided just one run, thanks to an Andrew Knapp sac fly to center to score Maikel Franco in the sixth, around Saunders’ double. That’s just the 23rd run the Phillies have provided Eickhoff in 76.2 innings this season. The 2.70 run support average is lowest among big league starters in 2017.
It’s no surprise then that the 26-year-old is the first Phillies starter since Matt Beech in 1997 to go without a win in his first 14 starts of a season.
“A lot of it I can’t control,” Eickhoff said. “I’m sticking with my process, getting ahead, putting guys away and getting outs. That’s all I can worry about; it’s all I care about.”
As for diminished expectations, it seems the Phillies’ grandest remaining aspiration with Saunders is to rehabilitate his trade value to move him off the books in the summer, perhaps for a prospect and the roster spot to vet a rising outfielder, like Nick Williams or (if healthy) Roman Quinn.
Any move in that direction has to start with Saunders rediscovering his swing, which begins with him re-finding his confidence. Saturday was an encouraging, if preliminary, “baby step.”
“A lot of it is belief and believing in myself and knowing the type of player that I am and I can be,” Saunders said. “Ultimately I think it’s about swinging at good pitches to hit.”
*** NOTES » Tommy Joseph extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a seventh-inning single. He ties Freddy Galvis for the longest this season on the Phillies and stands as the longest active streak in the big leagues. It’s the longest by a Phillies first baseman since Ryan Howard’s 13-game streak in 2008. … Arizona starter Zack Godley set a career high with eight strikeouts in just 5.2 innings pitched. The third-year pro had struck out seven on four previous occasions. … Lamb, who drove in Arizona’s first run with a single in the third inning, leads Major League Baseball with 59 RBIs. … Ben Lively (1-1, 3.00 ERA) hopes to continue his strong start to his MLB career Sunday in the effort to avoid a sweep. He’s opposed by lefty Robbie Ray (7-3, 2.62).