MIAMI – As Seth Johnson sat in front of his cubicle Sunday morning, mentally counting down the minutes until his Major League debut, the television in the visitor’s clubhouse at loanDepot Park was showing a documentary on Hall of Fame righthander Greg Maddux.
A couple hours later, with several family members, his fiancé and his agent sitting expectantly in the stands, Johnson gave up a home run to the second batter he faced, Marlins third baseman Connor Norby.
Cue the spooky organ music. When Maddux made his first big league appearance in 1986 – you guessed it – he gave up a home run to the second batter he faced, Houston’s Billy Hatcher.
In no way is that a prediction that Johnson will win 355 games in his career or have a plaque in Cooperstown someday. It’s just a gentle reminder not to rush to premature judgments, especially for a rookie with only three career starts above Double-A on his resume.
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Having said that, his chance to make a good first impression couldn’t have gone much worse. He lasted 2.1 innings. He gave up 9 runs on eight hits and 3 walks. Six straight batters had reached base before Max Lazar finally came out of the bullpen with one out and a runner on second.
Pair that with an offense that didn’t get its first hit off Marlins starter Edward Cabrera until the sixth and you have all the necessary ingredients for a butt ugly 10-1 getaway day beatdown.
It was the Phillies second straight loss to last-place Miami after winning six straight and 11 of 13. They still lead the Braves and Mets by 7 games in the National League East with 19 games left to play. Their Magic Number is 13.
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After he came out of the game, Rob Thomson had a heart-to-heart chat with the 25-year-old rookie righthander in the dugout.
“I was just telling him that he’s got good stuff,” the manager said. “Because he does. And to keep battling. Everybody goes through these types of things, you know?”
Said Johnson: “It meant a lot to me. Hearing those words of encouragement was really nice. I wish it had gone a little better. But it was a really cool experience. I was happy my family was able to be here and I’m grateful for the opportunity.
“There were a little bit of nerves. I’ve got some things to work on.”
Continued Thomson: “I just think he was up in the hitting zone. His stuff’s okay. He might have been nervous the first couple hitters. And the other thing is we have to check and see that he’s not (tipping his pitches). I felt bad for him. A couple hitters he got behind. You can pitch up, but you’d better pitch up up. And he wasn’t getting the ball there.
“It was his first start in the big leagues. I’m sure at some point he’s going to get another one. He’s going to pitch in the big leagues again.”
No final decision has been made, but the best bet would be that it won’t be Saturday, the next time a fifth starter will be needed. All indications point to lefthander Kolby Allard getting the ball against the Mets that day; Allard will become eligible to be recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday.
Part of that speculation is based on Allard’s four years of big league service time and part on the fact that the Phillies are monitoring the workload of Johnson, who had Tommy John surgery two seasons ago.
Even if Johnson had pitched better, it might not have changed the outcome. Cabrera, who was scratched from his scheduled start Friday because of what was described as migraine-like symptoms, was a real headache for the Phillies hitters.
Coming in, he was 1-2 with a 4.70 career earned run average against the Phils. Sunday he pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six.
“He threw strikes,” Thomson said. “He gets in trouble when he doesn’t throw strikes, but he was getting ahead in this game.”
Said Bryce Harper: “He threw me a 3-2 horizontal about 17 inches. I mean, that’s a full plate. He was definitely tough.”
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