Notes: Bohm gets a breather; Moore to IL

One night after committing a pair of defensive miscues, Alec Bohm was not in the Phillies' starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park.

Though he picked up two hits in Friday's 11-3 loss -- and has three multi-hit games in his last five -- Bohm also made two crucial throwing errors that helped Boston pull away.

"Just giving him a day off," manager Joe Girardi said. "He'll be back in there tomorrow."

Bohm's first misstep on Friday came when he cut off Andrew McCutchen's throw to the plate in the fifth inning. With two runners on and the Phils trailing, 3-2, Xander Bogaerts lined a single to left field, where McCutchen fielded it and came up throwing. Bohm, however, cut it off and tried to get J.D. Martinez at second, only to have his throw sail wide of the bag and into center field. The decision not to let the ball go through to the plate was questioned by Girardi following the game.

“I think there’s a play at the plate,” Girardi said. “It will be taken care of.”

Bohm later made another throwing error to start the seventh inning, bringing his season total to seven. The second-year player has -10 defensive runs saved this season, three worse than any other player, regardless of position. His -4 outs above average are also tied for the worst among third basemen.

"The kid has always been a worker, the kid has always been a fighter," Girardi said. "You're going to go through this. I think every player goes through this. They do. I probably would worry more if you're not frustrated, in a sense."

Along with the defensive issues, Bohm is hitting just .225 with a .591 OPS in 45 games. He hit .338 with an .881 OPS over 44 games last year en route to finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting. He's also hit into an MLB-high 11 double plays this season.

Still, the Phillies aren't overly concerned about the 24-year-old's bat. After all, the metrics suggest that Bohm hasn't regressed quite as much as the actual numbers reflect.

Bohm's average exit velocity this season is 92.8 mph, which is not only up from 90.2 mph last season, but it ranks 11th among all big leaguers. His swing-and-miss rate is nearly identical (25.6% in 2021; 25.2% in '20) and he's actually chasing fewer pitches out of the zone (24.6% chase rate in '21; 25.1% in '20).

That explains why Bohm has some of the largest gaps between his actual stats and his expected stats. His .337 slugging percentage is 114 points lower than his .451 xSLG -- the fifth-largest differential in MLB among players with at least 100 batted balls. He also has a 45-point difference when it comes to batting average (.225 BA, .270 xBA), ninth-largest in the Majors.

"He's going to come out of it. We look at a lot of different things. He's hitting the ball harder this year, swing-and-miss [rate] is the same, other things are the same," Girardi said. "It's not like he's not hitting the ball hard. He really hasn't had much luck. You hope that changes and that it evens out. If you're hitting the ball hard, I'm going to take my chances."

Moore to injured list
The Phillies placed left-hander Matt Moore on the injured list prior to Saturday's game due to lower back spasms. The move opened up a spot on the active roster for top prospect Spencer Howard, who was called up to make his first big league start of 2021.

"His back's been bothering him, probably for -- on and off -- for three or four weeks," Girardi said of Moore. "There were a couple days we weren't sure if he was available. So we just want him to clear up, so we put him on the IL."

Signed to a one-year deal in February, Moore posted a 9.82 ERA in his first three starts before being placed on the COVID-19 injured list on April 19. Though he never tested positive himself, Moore had to isolate for a week due to contact tracing. By the time he returned, he had been bumped to the bullpen.

Moore allowed just one earned run over 5 1/3 innings in his first five relief appearances before being tagged for two runs on three hits and a walk over two innings in Thursday's 6-0 loss to the Marlins.