Philadelphia Phillies' Offense Flounders Despite Sitting Johan Rojas For Two Games

The Philadelphia Phillies decided to sit struggling hitter Johan Rojas in two straight games, but the offense continued to have issues putting up runs.

Coming into Friday's game, there was excitement surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies as they were finally above .500 for the first time all season and their new City Connect jerseys were being unveiled in a game setting.

After struggling during the early portion of the season, there was some discourse if Johan Rojas should be sent down to the minors so he can work on his offensive game.

The Phillies have made no indication of doing such a thing, but they did make an intereresting decision when they sat him in back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday.

Rojas has shouldered much of the blame for the poor offensive start that Philadelphia has had, but he has taken way too much blame.

That was clear on Friday when the lineup only plated two runs despite Rojas not being there to "hold them back."

This culminated in a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates that returned the Phillies to .500 on the year once again.

Philadelphia had an opportunity to get themselves back into the game late in the bottom half of the eighth when they had the bases loaded. They got one across when Alec Bohm drew a walk to make the score 5-2, but Brandon Marsh struck out looking to end the inning.

The Phillies were able to find their power bats yesterday when hitting three homers that put up five runs, but that did not translate to this game, and Rojas can't be blamed for that.

Manager Rob Thomson told Paul Hagen of NBC Sports Philadelphia that sitting the young center fielder was "just a little bit [of a re-set]."

He added it was to "just let him sit and watch for a minute. He's been playing a lot, so it's not going to hurt him to have a couple days off" and that "he’ll be back in there [Saturday]."

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this, but it's clear that Philadelphia's struggles go way deeper than one player who has been singled out for his poor performance.