By Sam Bush
Odubel Herrera lined a Charlie Morton pitch over the right-center-field wall for a three-run homer in the first inning, his first jack in more than two years.
“We’ve just seen better swings and his work in BP and the ball jumping off his bat, from gap to gap,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We felt like it was coming. That’s a big three-run homer tonight for him — and us.”
Herrera’s four RBIs nearly doubled the season total for the Phils center fielders (they entered with five). He’s 4-for-10 over the last three games at a position where the Phillies began the season just 11-for-100 (.110).
Girardi said before the game that Herrera’s extra work with hitting coach Joe Dillon has been paying off and the club wanted to “see where this takes us” in its quest to solve its center-field woes.
“It feels excellent. It feels really good,” said Herrera, who added that he’s been putting in extra work in the cage and focusing on using his legs more in his swing. “The most important thing is it helped the team win.”
But is he ready to secure the everyday job in center?
“Yeah, for sure,” Herrera said.
