Franco shows the power in a 20-1 beatdown of the Marlins
PHILADELPHIA » You need to check out the West Coast to find a MLB slugger hotter than Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco.
Franco belted his fourth career grand slam in the first inning Saturday, giving him home runs in back-to-back games and in five straight starts at Citizens Bank Park, and it’s no coincidence the Phillies cruised to a 20-1 win over the Miami Marlins.
Franco added a two-run double that umpires had to review to be sure it wasn’t another homer, giving him a career-high six RBIs, and manager Gabe Kapler hard proof that taking pitches can lead to uh, shall we say, bold things.
Franco is on a tear that would impress California Angels rookie Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese import who homered in three straight games this week entering a contest Saturday night with Oakland.
In his last two games Franco is 5-for-8 with a double, a triple, two home runs and 10 RBIs. He’s also scored four runs. A modified batting stance has contributed to the power. So has a newfound patience for working the pitchers.
“I feel really comfortable,” Franco said. “I see the ball really good. I feel like I’m in the right spot right now. I try to get more deeper in the count. I’ve been working in spring training with the stance. For me, it’s much better right now because I feel like I can drive the ball the other way. Right now, I feel really good.”
Franco, batting sixth, basically hit the pause button on critics of Kapler. In a 2-4 start, the manager had succeeded in doing little more than make Phillies players and fans wonder what oddball, analytics-inspired move he would make next. Kapler said the numbers would even out. The Phillies had scored just 19 runs and rapped 36 hits through those first six games ... before erupting for 20 and 20 in this one.
“We’ve been working deeper counts and really grinding out at-bats,” Kapler said. “So, it’s nice to see that all come together in one big kind of celebratory game. A lot of great things happened tonight.”
Following Franco’s lead were Aaron Altherr and Carlos Santana. Altherr ended an 0-for-18 drought with a grand slam in the fourth inning, also off starter and loser Dillon Peters. Santana added a three-run shot giving him his 1,000th career hit and the Phillies a 16-1 lead.
In the seventh inning, Phillies catcher Jorge Alfaro ripped one into a crowd of 33,660 for the final run.
Afterward, Kapler talked about at-bats lost in the carnage, starting with leadoff hitter Cesar Hernandez working a walk to kick-start the first inning fireworks. A few hitters later, cleanup batter Rhys Hoskins walked with the bases loaded to drive in the first run.
“We’re seeing a lot of pitches and we’re grinding down pitchers quickly,” Hoskins said. “I think by the time he had got to me he had thrown 18 or 19 pitches already and it was the fourth hitter of the game. You make the pitcher throw stressful pitches in the first inning, I think we’re going to be OK.”
Not quite as riveting as the offensive display was the work of starting pitcher Vince Velasquez. After an ugly start featuring lots and lots of pitches, he exited after the sixth inning with a 19-1 lead. The only run he gave up came in the first inning, a wild pitch and Alfaro’s wild throw into left field robbing him of the clean sheet.
In six innings, Velasquez scattered four hits and one walk, and struck out six. He threw 98 pitches, and retired 12 in a row in one stretch.
“He really took control of the game after the second inning,” Kapler said. “It was just about punching guys out, which he did. He struck guys out. But he also was going to attack and be in his strike zone and depend on his defense.”
Kapler, seemingly obsessed with swapping out pitchers, used just two. Jake Thompson threw three innings of scoreless relief, striking out four to earn his first save.