Maikel Franco is back in the Phillies' lineup for Friday's series opener in Miami and hoping to snap out of a 2-for-24 funk. He had the full day off Thursday to clear his head and will start anew this weekend in Miami.
The Phils will face two lefties in this series: Wei-Yin Chen tonight and Justin Nicolino on Sunday. Right-hander Tom Koehler is slated to pitch Saturday.
Freddy Galvis bats fifth, which just shows how weak this Phillies lineup can be on a nightly basis. It's Galvis' first-ever start in the five-hole.
The matchup with a lefty tonight means Ryan Howard is again out of the lineup after homering in back-to-back games in St. Louis on Tuesday and Wednesday. Darin Ruf plays first base and bats cleanup.
Ruf needs to get going in the worst way. He's 2 for 13 this season against left-handed starting pitchers and is hitting .149 on the season with no home runs, three walks and 17 strikeouts. He's just not doing his job as the right-handed portion of the Phils' first base platoon and it's creating a major hole in the middle of their order.
The pitcher is back batting eighth. Manager Pete Mackanin briefly went back to batting the pitcher ninth earlier this week in St. Louis.
The Phillies are 4-2 this season against lefty starters despite hitting a majors-worst .174 against them (see game notes).
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1. Odubel Herrera, CF
2. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
3. Maikel Franco, 3B
4. Darin Ruf, 1B
5. Freddy Galvis, SS
6. Cameron Rupp, C
7. Tyler Goeddel, LF
8. Vince Velasquez, P
9. Peter Bourjos, RF
And for the Marlins:
1. J.T. Realmuto, C (Only catcher in the majors to lead off this season)
2. Martin Prado, 3B
3. Christian Yelich, LF (L)
4. Giancarlo Stanton, RF
5. Derek Dietrich, 2B (L)
6. Marcell Ozuna, CF
7. Chris Johnson, 1B
8. Miguel Rojas, SS
9. Wei-Yin Chen, P (L)
