Don Mattingly isn’t worried about the Phillies’ recent baserunning mistakes: ‘That’s going to happen now and then’

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Phillies’ series against the Angels this week has had several sloppy moments on the base paths.

Although they wound up winning both times thanks to late rallies, the Phillies gifted Los Angeles four outs at either third base or home plate across the first two games of the series. Even so, interim manager Don Mattingly doesn’t think there is an overarching concern about the team’s baserunning that needs to be addressed teamwide.

“I think it’s something that’s going to happen now and then,” Mattingly said.

Instead, he has been having individual conversations on a case-by-case basis. For example, Mattingly said he spoke to Derek Hill about the play on Friday night that led to Bryan De La Cruz getting tagged out at home.

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With De La Cruz on second and Hill on first, Kyle Schwarber laced a single to right field to advance both runners. De La Cruz initially pulled up after rounding third, but Hill was running with his head down and didn’t see the stop sign from third base coach Anthony Contreras. He continued toward third base, forcing De La Cruz to then try to score, or else get doubled off.

De La Cruz was tagged out easily at the plate, costing the Phillies a potential run and ending the inning.

“I talked to D-Hill about it,” Mattingly said. “AC was stopping him from the beginning of that play; D-Hill has got to keep his head up. So that’s nothing more than just the technique of baserunning.”

Mattingly said he didn’t have as much as an issue with the aggressiveness from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper on Saturday that resulted in outs. In a game the Phillies were leading 1-0 at the time, Turner was picked off attempting to steal third, while Bryce Harper was tagged out attempting to steal home.

“Being aggressive is fine. Harp’s is to me, not a bad play either,” Mattingly said. “Just from the standpoint of [Alec] Bohm’s in a bad count, he’s 0-2, so it’s worth taking a shot. And third base is way back, so that one I don’t mind.”

Later in the game, though, Brandon Marsh handed the Angels the first out of the 10th inning by attempting to advance to third on a grounder to shortstop. That play was a mistake both he and the Phillies would like to have back.

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“The Marsh one’s just principles of you’re not going on any ball that’s in that spot,” Mattingly said. “You’re in scoring position already. If it’s to his left, I’d feel a little better about it, but it’s kind of right at the guy, and it wasn’t really a tough play. It was a pretty easy play.

“I know it looks like over the last couple days, it looks bad ... but in general, I think two of them are OK, and one of them’s D-Hill not looking up, and the other one’s just bad baserunning.”

Second baseman Luis Arraez was out of the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Angels for a regular day off, according to Mattingly.

“Felt like it was the right time,” Mattingly said.

Bryson Stott moved back to second base, while Edmundo Sosa drew into the lineup at third. It was just the second time Arraez was out of the starting lineup since the Aug. 3 trade that brought him to Philadelphia. The second baseman also sat on Aug. 23 against the Cardinals due to low body cramping, but he later appeared in that game as a pinch-hitter.

In addition to giving Arraez a break, Mattingly wanted all three of his right-handed bench bats — Sosa, Hill, and De La Cruz — to start against Angels lefty Yusei Kikuchi.

To open an infield spot for Sosa, Mattingly also considered giving Turner a day off. But Turner was coming off back-to-back multihit games after an ice-cold start to the road trip, and Mattingly did not want to halt any potential momentum.

Aaron Nola (5-10, 5.03 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday’s series opener in Arizona. Brandon Pfaadt (7-1, 3.51) is set to take the mound for the Diamondbacks.

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