Interim manager Don Mattingly could not have drawn it up much better. Over the previous two days, the Phillies opted to sit Alec Bohm, who had gotten off to a historically slow start. Not an injury. Not a true benching. Just a “reset,” as Mattingly called it, for the club’s third baseman. Bohm did not swing a bat on Thursday. He took batting practice on the field under cloudy skies on Friday. Then, on the third pitch he saw Saturday, he golfed one into the left-field seats. A no-doubt homer. “I think if you were going to draw it up, that’s how you’d draw it up, right?” Bohm said. It was the perfect matchup for Bohm, so perfect that when he came up an inning later, he got another pitch to handle. This time, he hit a low liner that snuck over the orange Asplundh signage just above the left-field wall. Whatever the off-days were supposed to do, Bohm looked clearer when he returned to the lineup. His two roundtrippers ignited the Phillies’ offense in a 9-3 home win over the Rockies. “It was definitely a lot of fun,” Bohm said. What made each homer significant? PLAYING TO STRENGTHS Even during Bohm’s season-long cold stretch, he has still controlled the strike zone and made contact. Entering Saturday, Bohm ranked in the top 16 percent of hitters in chase rate, whiff rate and strikeout percentage. Not too shabby for someone who entered with a .433 OPS. The issue was what happened when he made contact. Out of his 107 batted balls on the season, Bohm had barreled just one. The quality of contact had not matched the approach. Against Colorado lefty Kyle Freeland, Bohm stayed consistent with that approach. He took a first-pitch cutter inside. Then Freeland spun a slow knuckle curve, which Bohm also took. That put him in a hitter’s count. Bohm, who had hit just .128 against four-seamers this year, got a heater and was ready for it. He pulled his hands in and drove it out at 101.2 mph with a 38-degree launch angle, opening a five-run third inning. Bohm pointed afterward to one adjustment that came up during the reset. “I think one thing that’s kind of been a common theme is my stride length,” Bohm said. “I just remember [in 2024], that was something I was really focused on, and I felt like it helped me a lot. We did a couple of different things to reinforce that yesterday, and it kind of showed up today on the field.” His next at-bat was different. Bohm fell behind 1-2, then protected the plate. He fouled off a fastball up and a hanging breaking ball before Freeland threw a strong two-strike knuckle curve. Like his first at-bat, Bohm saw it well out of the hand. The breaker finished about a ball’s width out of the zone, but Bohm dropped the barrel on it and sent it out at a 22-degree launch angle. It was a low liner, but he produced enough backspin to sneak it into the seats. Bohm later added a two-run single down the left-field line, extending the Phillies’ lead to six in the eighth. One game does not erase the first month. But for Bohm, the day gave him something tangible to carry forward. “Baseball’s a hard game. It’s a weird game,” Bohm said. “But I think it just kind of reinforces that the things I’m doing and the things I’m working on are right. Just keep working in that direction.” THE TURNAROUND? Trea Turner had been grinding coming into Saturday. He began the month 4-for-32 without much slug. The Phillies’ shortstop collected four hits, his second four-hit performance of the season. Three of Turner’s four hits on the night were not considered hard-hit, but that has been a common theme so far. His average exit velocity on the season is 90.2 mph, his highest in a full season since 2019. Turner’s chase rate and strikeout rate have both risen by about four percentage points from last year’s batting-title campaign. Seeing Turner put the ball in play is a good sign, and the tide could be starting to turn. He had been putting in the work. A lot of it. “I probably took more swings in the last four days than I had in a long, long time,” Turner said. “Then today, I didn’t swing the bat until I got in the game. So it doesn’t make any sense.” Turner said he only took seven swings today. All of them in-game. “Yeah, zero,” Turner said of his pregame work, or lack thereof. “Because I took 350 yesterday. A thousand swings, almost, in three days. It makes no sense.” Turner and Bohm’s nights also spoke to an issue that has followed the Phillies all season: right-handed hitters against lefties. Their right-handed bats tallied eight hits against Freeland, a positive sign for a club that has struggled badly in those matchups. The Phils are now 2-10 against southpaw starters. Mattingly said that part is important if the Phillies are going to keep climbing back. “Our righties are going to have to be the guys that carry the load against the lefties,” Mattingly said. “Our lefties are going to hit them, too. But overall, when you get good lefties, your righties have got to be able to do something.” BOUNCE BACK, ADOLIS? When you think of Adolis García, another right-handed hitter, you think big power. In five full campaigns with Texas, García averaged 30 homers per 162 games. Since getting to the Phillies, though, the power numbers have not been the only thing to notice. He has been a more consistent hitter, and the ability to impact the ball has not gone anywhere. García has produced a 52 percent hard-hit rate this year, the highest of his career. That has been paired with a five percentage point decrease in swings outside the zone and a walk rate that has increased by three percentage points. The Phillies’ right fielder has been much better at the plate recently. Over his last 15 games, he is slashing .298/.339/.474 with 17 hits. He tallied two more on Saturday and has been a steady presence out of the cleanup spot. NOLA STICKS AROUND, ‘PEN COMES TO PLAY It was not up to Nola’s standard from his last start, when he spun six scoreless innings in the Phillies’ 1-0 win in Miami on Monday. Against the Rockies, Nola went 4 2/3 innings, allowing six hits, two walks and three earned runs while striking out four. His ERA still sits over five, and he dealt with some of the same issues that have followed him early this season. Five of his six hits allowed came to left-handed hitters. Again, his four-seam fastball did not generate much swing-and-miss. He got one whiff on 12 swings after going 0-for-12 in his last start. Nola knew he needed to be more efficient. “A lot of pitches,” Nola said. “They fouled a lot of balls off today. I don’t like to go that deep and skip the whole bullpen, get them a little bit more rest. But they came in today and shut the door. They did a really good job.” There were positives, though. Most importantly, Nola kept the Phillies in the game. He also produced a 42 percent chase rate. His knuckle curve generated a 43 percent whiff rate after entering the outing at 39.8 percent. “I feel good,” Nola said. “I had that one fastball right over the middle, and I got away with a couple, but overall, I feel like the pitches felt pretty good.” Then the Phillies’ bullpen picked him up. The relievers delivered 3 1/3 scoreless innings without allowing a hit, striking out six. Tanner Banks and Chase Shugart each tallied three strikeouts. Since the start of May, Phillies relievers have the second-most strikeouts in the National League. All things were clicking Saturday night at the yard. And after two days meant to clear his head and reset his work, Bohm got a chance to start righting his season. ...read more read less