Phillies (Mostly) Return to Opening Day Lineup; Kingery Leads Off

With the Phillies in an absolute free fall, having lost seven games in a row including a weekend sweep against the Marlins, Phillies fans are looking for change.  In recent weeks, a motley assortment of lineups have done little for the Phillies offense, stone cold in recent days.  On Monday, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler will return to the Opening Day lineup that had success, at least as much as he can.

The posted lineup on Monday by the Phillies contains a batting order that is the same starting eight as Opening Day, with Scott Kingery taking the place of the injured Andrew McCutchen, and Roman Quinn taking the place of the suspended Odubel Herrera.

The lineup is as follows:

1. Kingery, LF
2. Jean Segura, SS
3. Bryce Harper, RF
4. Rhys Hoskins, 1B
5. J.T. Realmuto, C
6. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
7. Quinn, CF
8. Maikel Franco, 3B
9. Zach Eflin, P

The major change here is that Kingery will take the lead off spot.  That is hard to argue with, given that Kingery has gotten on base more than anyone else in 2019.  Kingery is batting .326 on the season, with a .370 on base percentage and .995 OPS.

Quinn will replace Herrera in the lineup.  Quinn has yet to find his stroke in 2019, but will allow the rest of the lineup to function as it was.  Batting seventh, the pressure is not on Quinn to get on base as the others, but he will be able to use his speed behind Hernandez.

Recent lineups featured Harper in the leadoff spot. Harper has actually succeeded in that spot; in the number one spot in the order he is batting .333 with three walks and a home run.  But batting behind Kingery and Segura, he may have an opportunity to score some runs.