Lively hits DL, earning Thompson another trip to Philly
PHILADELPHIA » The back tightness that Ben Lively spoke about, but ultimately declined to list as a partial reason for his lousy outing Thursday against Arizona, presented itself as an actual problem Friday.
Lively has been placed on the 10-day disabled list, leaving the Phillies temporarily short a starter for next week. As it is now, Lively’s spot on the roster has been taken by Jake Thompson, who was promoted from Lehigh Valley to fill a role in the bullpen.
Lively said Thursday he couldn’t get loose, this after allowing seven earned runs on seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings of work in what became an 8-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.
He reiterated Friday that he’s dealing with more “tightness” than pain in his lower back.
“Very frustrating,” Lively said. “I couldn’t even eat yesteerday I was so upset. Nothing you can really do about it; turn the page, get healthy and get back on it.”
The Phillies will have to come up with another starter for Tuesday. Manager Gabe Kapler said he may seek “options internally,” or perhaps call up a starter from TripleA. An internal option would be a long reliever, and with Mark Leiter Jr. on the DL, that would likely be Drew Hutchison, who in an extended outing Thursday earned praise from Kapler.
The manager added that Thompson would get a good look in spot situations against right-handed hitters.
“His last outing was good for us,” Kapler said. “Most right-handed hitters, they struggle against sliders. It just is a pitch that isn’t especially comfortable for righthanded hitters. And (Thompson’s) got a good slider. So we want him to continue to develop his slider, we want to see him be a strike thrower. If he does both of those things he helps us in those scenarios, in this role, specifically.”
*** The Braves’ new and improved lineup might be enough to keep them in the hunt for a while this summer, especially with 20-year-old wunderkind Ronald Acuna Jr. joining up this week.
Acuna Jr. entered this game hitting .444 with a home run after two games since his recall. He joins 21-year-old infielder Ozzie Albies, who first joined the club last August and has been a power-hitting revelation since the start of April, with eight homers and 16 RBIs coming into this game.
But it’s not just them and holdover stars Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis that enabled the Braves to go 1410 thus far.
“It’s a good lineup, right?” Kapler correctly noted. “And guys coming off the bench have some good bat to ball skills . ... They have some good weapons.”
As for Acuna, Kapler said before the game, “From a talent perspective, he’s uber-talented. He makes them immediately better. From a production perspective, we just don’t know yet. We haven’t had a good look at it.”
Aaron Nola had a good look right away Friday night, as Acuna drilled an RBI double in a three-run Braves first.
Kapler said he’d watched a lot of video on Acuna.
“One thing we know about him,” Kapler said, “is he takes an athletic swing on just about any pitch you throw up there. We don’t know exactly how we’re going to attack him but we feel confident in our process. We’re prepared to go at him with the most information possible.”
The power of analytics.