Hernandez showing the way for offense
Cesar Hernandez helped the Phillies snap a four-game skid as his two-run home run in the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie in Philly’s 4-2 victory over the Nationals Saturday.
For the most part, the Phillies continue to look like a team that will struggle to score runs this year. That wasn’t unexpected. But Cesar Hernandez is trying to throw a twist into this ongoing rebuild mix.
Seemingly gaining strength everywhere from newfound confidence, Hernandez continued to solidify his leadoff role Saturday by showing some varied prowess at the plate.
It was his bunt single to lead off the fourth inning that short-circuited any or all premature thoughts of a perfect game for Washington Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark. Hernandez would score a tying run that inning. Then he drove a Joe Blanton pitch into the right-field seats in the eighth, pushing the Phillies to a 4-2 victory at Nationals Park.
In snapping a four-game losing streak, the Phillies (4-7) triggered Pete Mackanin’s recently spotty sense of humor.
“Well,” the manager said, “that was fun for a change.”
He’d finish up that same post-game talk with a question: “We won, right?”
It was Hernandez who provided the positive punchline. His blast off Blanton was his second of the young season, and was part of what since spring training has been an almost daily reaffirmation that Hernandez is a player whose ceiling is still a nice work in progress.
“Can’t say enough about Cesar,” Mackanin said. “He’s been playing hard. He lays down a bunt for a hit ... that was huge. And then Cesar steps up (in the eighth) and he didn’t bunt for a hit that time. He hit a home run that was huge; he gave us that two-run lead.
“He’s turned into a very good major league player.”
“I can hit the ball harder than last year,” Hernandez maintained. “Maybe that ball I hit today is dead at the wall (last year). So today it was a home run.”
It came after Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson had been lifted for a pinchhitter after he’d allowed a game-tying homer to Chris Heisey in the bottom of the seventh to make it 2-2.
“I was really happy because it got Hellickson the win,” Hernandez said. “He threw seven good innings. It gave us a needed win.”
But Hernandez’s bunt single, which according to Mackanin was his second of the season, is where this victory began. Howie Kendrick followed with a bunt that Roark couldn’t handle but was called a hit. Both bunting baserunners eventually came around to score in that fourth inning.
Up until that point, Roark (2-1) had cruised through three innings of mostly Philadelphia bounceouts. Hernandez found a way to alter the script of the game, however, perhaps because of a little 71-year-old voice in his head, one belonging to a certain bench coach trying to show this young leadoff hitter the way he went about the business of getting on base back in the day.
“(Larry) Bowa always gets on him,” Mackanin said. “He’s got two (bunt hits) now, I believe. But he’s going to get plenty.”
Hernandez now rates a more than respectable .313/.353/.542 slash line out of the leadoff hole, with a team-leading 11 runs scored. That latter slugging percentage number is tops among starting position Phillies.
Perhaps it’s a little troubling that he doesn’t have any stolen bases, but then, the Phillies only have four of them team-wide. There’s been every indication so far, however, that Hernandez’s game is still evolving, and can still surprise.
“The one ingredient that he needs work on, and he has been working on it, is getting jumps to steal bases,” Mackanin said. “He’s got the potential to steal a lot of bases. He’s been working on reading slide steps, when to go and when not to. The other night he was going to attempt to steal, but the pitcher put a slide step on so he shut it down. That’s a vast improvement.
“That’s not easy to do but once you do get the hang of it, it makes a difference.”
*** Despite Hernandez’s impressive start, there is still the popular notion that either his partner Freddy Galvis could get displaced either later this season or next year by top prospect J.P. Crawford, or that perhaps Crawford could be moved into Hernandez’s spot at second.
Except that Crawford’s start with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs has been slow. Through Friday, he was only 3-for-33 at the plate through nine games played.
As for Galvis, his batting average has dipped to .184. But Mackanin either doesn’t notice that or is purposefully giving his shortstop a verbal lift.
“With Freddy, I just love watching him play,” Mackanin said. “He makes great plays almost every night. It’s fun to watch him play.”
••• NOTES >> Joaquin Benoit, the Phils’ still-new 39-yearold closer, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning against the heart of the Nationals’ order to nail down his first save of the season . ... Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy were a combined oh-for-8 in the game. Murphy’s 10game hitting streak was stopped . ... Dating to the end of last season, Odubel Herrera has reached base safely at least once in 21 consecutive games.