MIAMI – The Phillies will be looking to climb out of their latest offensive rut without one of their most productive bats on Tuesday night.
Third baseman Maikel Franco is nursing a sore right wrist. He has been out of the starting lineup three of the last four days and does not believe he will be ready to start Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins.
Franco had an X-ray on Sunday. It was negative.
"But at the same time, when I squeeze my hand I feel a little bit of pain and when I hit the ball I feel a lot of pain," said Franco, who sat out Sunday's game, a 3-1 loss to Miami.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Franco said the pain was "6 or 7 when I squeeze the bat and hit the ball."
Franco is receiving treatment and says he is day to day. With him out, the Phillies are using Asbrubal Cabrera at third and Scott Kingery at shortstop. That gives the Phils a better defensive combination on the left side of the infield, but they do miss Franco's bat. From June 23 to Aug. 23, a span of 53 games, he hit .323 with 12 homers, 28 RBIs a .942 OPS. He raised his batting average from .240 to .279 over that span.
Franco hurt the wrist when he was jammed by a pitch last weekend in Toronto.
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"I was playing with it the last few days but it was bothering me a lot," he said.
Franco is just 2 for 25 over his last eight games, coinciding with the series in Toronto. He is 0 for his last 13.
The Phils have scored just three runs in their last three games - not a good time to lose a bat.
