Phillies Move Rookie Félix Reyes to Cleanup Spot to Spark Struggling Offense

The Philadelphia Phillies struggling lineup is taking an extreme measure to find a spark, hitting rookie Félix Reyes in the No. 4 spot, behind Bryce Harper.

The team has tried Alec Bohm and Adolis Garcia, and is now moving on to Reyes, at least for tonight.

Desperate Times: Why Félix Reyes is Hitting Cleanup

Reyes is playing left field and hitting cleanup after hitting a home run in his first Major League at-bat against Chris Sale on Saturday against the Braves.

He is followed by Adolis Garcia, JT Realmuto, who is back after missing two games with back tightness, then Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, and Edmundo Sosa hit 7-8-9 on Tuesday against Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga.

Scouting the Matchup: Shota Imanaga vs. Jesús Luzardo

Imanaga dominated the Phillies' offense in his start against them on Wednesday night, matching a career-high with 11 strikeouts over six innings, giving up just one run. So far this season, Imanaga has a 2.45 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts over 22 innings.

Using Reyes in the No. 4 spot shows how desperate the Phillies are to find someone to hit in the middle of the order.  He went 1-for-3 with a home run and a strikeout in his only major league game, but had an impressive 1.000 OPS in 18 games at Triple-A Lehigh, hitting .333 with six home runs and 15 RBI.

The Phillies will counter with lefty Jesús Luzardo to the mound, who has a 7.93 ERA through four starts this season, giving up 12 hits and eight earned runs in his most recent outing against the Cubs on Wednesday.

The Phillies find themselves in the middle of a six-game losing streak, and are 7.5 games behind Atlanta already in National League East play.