Phillies' hitters swing into gear with first-inning barrage after off-day golfing

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Justin Edmonds / Getty Images Share full article1DENVER — The baseball deities work in mysterious ways, like a scheduled day off in Colorado with temperatures that hovered in the mid-70s. It was golfing weather. At least half of the Phillies team went on 18-hole adventures, some as far as 40 minutes from downtown. A few even played 36 holes. For a team that did not have the most ideal six-game start to its season, this was a reprieve. Then, on Friday, a blast of cold air came through the Rocky Mountains. It was not hitting weather. A Phillies clubhouse attendant placed nine duffel bags in the middle of the visitors locker room at Coors Field with every piece of warm attire the Phillies could find. Teams come to this ballpark to solve whatever ails them at the plate; it helps when you can feel your fingers gripping the bat. But all it took was 18 minutes of catharsis in the first inning. The Phillies scored seven runs, more than they had in any full game during the first week of this season. They made Michael Lorenzen throw 44 pitches to record three outs. It was the most runs the Phillies have scored in the first inning in almost three years. And, after a 10-1 cruise-control afternoon win over the Colorado Rockies, Trea Turner shrugged. “I feel like everyone’s making everything such a big deal nowadays,” Turner said. “I don’t know. We were just playing baseball.” The season is 4.3 percent complete, and inside the Phillies’ clubhouse, they have marveled at the general reaction to the slow start during their 3-3 homestand. One player received a verbal death threat during a game at Citizens Bank Park, an incident that was corroborated by others who overheard it. The Phillies did not score runs like they were supposed to, and the loudest of the faithful vented their frustration. It was a long winter. Everyone would like to see some dingers. No one will be satisfied until October (or November), and it’s why this whole Phillies season is such a fascinating experiment. This roster is carrying the highest of expectations. Had they swept a six-game homestand against the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals, the loudest fans might have surmised: Great, it doesn’t matter until the postseason. There is pressure. But not in March or April. “They’re veteran guys,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I don’t think there’s any weight on them. You know, they know they’re going to hit. And it’s just a matter of time. And, you know, I think, as I said a couple of days ago, I think it’s magnified because it’s the start of the year.” The Phillies’ No. 1-5 hitters entered Friday with a .556 OPS. That ranked 29th in Major League Baseball. The first five men reached in Friday’s game — double, walk, walk, single, double. “The double that Trea had to start the game set the tone pretty early,” Brandon Marsh said. Marsh, one of the few Phillies who has hit since Opening Day, crushed a 454-foot three-run homer to right field that put an exclamation point on the first inning. It was the longest homer of Marsh’s career. But he had the farthest-hit ball in this game for only about an hour because Kyle Schwarber destroyed a baseball that landed 460 feet away in the fifth inning. A double-decker 460-foot blast for Kyle Schwarber 😳 (MLB x @MountainDew) pic.twitter.com/RfbCz4xnwR It’s the Rockies and it’s Lorenzen, but in that first inning, the Phillies fulfilled every promise of this lineup. It took Lorenzen 26 pitches to register an out. The Phillies did not chase; Schwarber and Bryce Harper took their walks. Alec Bohm, in a position to drive in runs, served a two-run single to center. Bryson Stott did the same thing with a run-scoring double to center. Even after Marsh’s homer, the Phillies kept going. J.T. Realmuto doubled and Turner collected his second hit of the inning, an RBI single to right. “It’s good to keep the line moving,” Turner said. “I felt like everyone took their hits. In this stadium, there’s a lot of hits out there. The outfield is so big so you don’t have to hit it over the fence to keep the line moving. I thought we did a good job of that today.” A 454-FOOT SHOT FOR BRANDON MARSH! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/JJtSlyjHaj — Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 3, 2026 This is a good time to remember the Phillies have finished among the top five National League teams in runs scored per game over each of the past four seasons. They have ranked third in the NL in slugging in every season since 2022. In Friday’s game, they accounted for 22 of the 28 hardest-hit balls. That said as much about Aaron Nola’s strong 6 1/3 innings as it did the Phillies’ quality of contact. Harper, who liked his swings despite few results to show for it during the season’s first week, had homered and doubled and walked by the third inning of Friday’s game. “That’s kind of how seasons go sometimes, right?” Harper said. “Some guys have good first months and then have a terrible rest of the season, or they have a really bad first month, and they win an MVP. So that’s why you play a full season. … Don’t put too much stock in your first couple games. And just try to play your game. Understand it’s a long season. Just have to find value in playing a full season.” It’s harder and harder to do that once you’ve been to October. The reward is tougher to see in April, especially when so many people are yelling at you. So you play 18 with the boys, and then you go back to work. “We all know it’s early,” Turner said. “Do we want to play better from the start? Obviously. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. And I think we got off to a good start on Opening Day, then lost two, and it felt like the world was over. But we know in here that’s not how it works. So just keep playing baseball. It’s a long year.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.