Phillies Bench Red-Hot Bryson Stott for Heavy Right-Handed Lineup Against Athletics

The Philadelphia Phillies are getting set to play the second game of their series against the Athletics, and they will be facing something that has been a problem for most of the year.

After a terrible start to the campaign, the Phillies are now one of the hottest teams in baseball. As winners in seven of their last eight games, Philadelphia has really been thriving since the decision to fire Rob Thomson.

Don Mattingly has taken over and created a spark for the team that they needed. However, while things are going well, they are still four games under the .500 mark heading into their matchup on Wednesday night against the Athletics.

Aside from the managerial change, there hasn’t been too much else that has been different for the team. Mattingly has mostly kept things the same, and the decision to fire Thomson has seemingly been the wakeup call that the team needed.

On Wednesday, they will be put to the test against something that has caused them issues all year, and that is facing a left-handed pitcher. Philadelphia’s offense has been performing better of late, but their inability to hit lefties has been an issue and one of the reasons for the slow start.

It will be Jeffrey Springs taking the mound for the Athletics, and Mattingly will be trying to counter with a heavy right-handed lineup.

Phillies Leave Stott Out of Lineup

Today’s Phillies lineup:

Turner 6
Schwarber DH
Harper 3
García 9
Sosa 4
Realmuto 2
Marsh 8
Bohm 5
Reyes 7

Wheeler RHP
— Lochlahn March (@lochlahn) May 6, 2026

Despite playing really well of late and showcasing some power, Philadelphia is leaving Bryson Stott out of the lineup against the southpaw in favor of Edmundo Sosa getting the start at second base. This will certainly be something worth monitoring, and Stott’s play of late figured to have earned him a start against a southpaw.

However, with Sosa being at second, it will continue to be Alec Bohm as the starter at third base. The struggling former All-Star continues to have a terrible year, but he will be batting eighth in the lineup as he tries to turn things around.

With Springs having a solid season so far for the Athletics, this game will be a challenge for the lineup of the Phillies. There have been some really poor numbers for some of the key right-handed bats against left-handers so far, and they need to start to turn that around.

It is going to be a heavy right-handed group, with just three of the starters being left-handed bats. Hopefully, they can find a way to break out of their struggles against southpaws.

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