Kingery in Triple-A; Harper continues to rest
PHILADELPHIA -- It got lost in the shuffle on Monday because of Bryce Harper’s sore left wrist, but the Phillies optioned Scott Kingery to Triple-A Lehigh Valley so he can play every day.
The Phillies never intended to recall Kingery on April 21, but they had no choice because of injuries to Jean Segura, Didi Gregorius and Ronald Torreyes. Segura (strained right quadriceps) and Torreyes (COVID-19) began rehab assignments Tuesday with the IronPigs.
“Go play every day and get your swing right,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s hard to come up here and not play every day and not see live pitching every day to make adjustments. He’s made adjustments. Now, we need the adjustments that have taken place in BP to carry over in the game.”
Kingery went 1-for-7 with three strikeouts in eight games with the Phillies. He opened Spring Training as arguably the organization’s No. 1 choice to win the everyday job in center field. Instead, he batted .159 (7-for-44) with 19 strikeouts and got optioned before the end of camp.
Kingery struggled at Lehigh Valley before he rejoined the Phillies two weeks ago.
“He was able to work with Joe [Dillon, hitting coach],” Girardi said. “I think that’s good. Hopefully he gets it going and when he comes back, when he gets it going, the terminology is fresh still. I mean, obviously we would have liked to have him playing every day [in Lehigh Valley], but there are some things down there that I think the way the games were sometimes made it kind of tough on the players.”
Harper remains day to day
Harper did not start in Tuesday night’s game against the Brewers.
“Hopefully he just continues to get better each day and we get him out there soon,” Girardi said.
• Bryce (wrist) sidelined 'a day or two at least'
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Velasquez earned it
Girardi said right-hander Vince Velasquez will start Saturday night against the Braves in Atlanta. Velasquez allowed one run in six innings in Monday night’s 4-3 victory, but Girardi afterward was noncommittal about Velasquez’s next start.
“He’s earned it,” Girardi said.
Velasquez took left-hander Matt Moore’s spot in the rotation a couple weeks ago when Moore landed on the COVID-19 injured list.
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De Los Santos is back
The Phillies selected the contract of right-hander Enyel De Los Santos from Triple-A. They optioned left-hander Cristopher Sánchez to Triple-A. The Phillies have an open spot on the 40-man roster while Torreyes remains on the COVID-19 IL.