Didi's 1st game off IL is just what Phils need

PHILADELPHIA -- Didi Gregorius dropped his bat on a 2-1 changeup and sent the pitch into the right-field stands.

The solo homer on Friday helped the Phillies to a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Padres in 10 innings at Citizens Bank Park. It felt good to homer, but this one felt especially nice because Gregorius had not played for the Phillies in 50 days because of inflammation in his right elbow and a condition called pseudogout.

“Yesterday was a good day,” Gregorius said Saturday afternoon. “Hopefully it stays under control. I don’t know. They don’t know. Nobody knows. But hopefully it stays like that. It’s just going day by day and getting checkups every day to see how it is. At least they know what it is.”

Friday represented just the third time this season the Phillies had their everyday eight in the lineup at the same time. Gregorius hit seventh on Friday. Alec Bohm, who had hit as high as fifth in recent weeks, hit eighth.

But Gregorius hopes to play well defensively at shortstop, too. He had a rough April, but he seemed to play better in the 10-14 days before he landed on the injured list on May 12.

There might be a reason for that.

“They wanted me to do some presets that weren’t working for me, so I told them I’m done with that and I went back to my old ways,” Gregorius said. “Just one step and get ready. Before, I was trying to jump and I was always out of rhythm. I was rushing balls that I shouldn’t have been rushing or staying back on balls that I shouldn’t have stayed back on. I was almost like in between. So I went back to my old ways.”

It worked. Now they just need to keep him on the field.