Kyle Schwarber back in the Phillies’ leadoff spot; Alec Bohm talks Mets’ suspensions

The Phillies returned to Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday with a vastly different lineup. Kyle Schwarber was back at the leadoff spot for the first time since April 15. Alec Bohm was hitting second for the first time since Oct. 3. Rhys Hoskins was moved to fifth, Jean Segura was moved to seventh, and Nick Castellanos was scratched because his wife went into labor.

Castellanos hasn’t been moved to the paternity list yet, because the Phillies’ minor league affiliates were in Syracuse and Portland on Tuesday, and the team didn’t think a player would arrive in time. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out.

Manager Joe Girardi said moving Schwarber back to the leadoff spot was a long time coming, and that they were just waiting for him to heat up. Schwarber has hit .300/.481/.850 over his last seven games, and went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three runs batted in Sunday night against the Mets.

Schwarber has long been a Met killer, so don’t surprised if you see him at the top of the lineup next weekend, when the Mets come to Philly.

“I’m not going to be changing the lineup every day,” Girardi said. “This is something we talked about. We sat down and said, these guys are hitting the way they are — we’re going to run with this.”

Bohm frequently hit second in his two seasons in the minors, but he hasn’t done so as much with the Phillies. He says he doesn’t have a preference on where he hits. Girardi said that Bohm’s move to second in the lineup was more a reflection of his at-bats than anything else.

“His at-bats have been probably more consistent than anyone we’ve had the whole season,” Girardi said. “I just thought it was time to get him up there. Consistently, his at-bats have been long, he has not chased a lot, and he’s hit the ball hard. So, the guys who are the swinging the best, we put up top.”

Hoskins batted fifth in 20 games last season, and Segura batted seventh only nine games last season. Girardi said he moved them down because they’ve been scuffling, and he thinks a change could help jump-start their hitting.

Bohm was hit in the back by a Yoan López changeup in Sunday’s game, shortly after López threw pitches at Schwarber. López was suspended for three games and fined, and Mets manager Buck Showlater was given a one-game suspension and fined.

Bohm said on Tuesday that he didn’t believe that López was intentionally throwing at him, but initially thought he saw a fastball coming, instead of a changeup, which is why he threw his bat down in frustration.

“There’s no hard feelings for me. He threw a changeup,” Bohm said. “Our stuff says he rarely throws changeups to right-handed hitters anyway. That’s just a pitch that ... he was trying to strike me out and he missed. There’s nothing there.”

“At first, it looked like a fastball came right at my ribs. and then it hit me. And I was initially mad, because getting hit hurts, but then I was like, wait that was a changeup. And I threw my bat down. When you see the ball flying at you, you’re like, ‘Oh [expletive],’ right? But there’s obviously no intent behind it.”

Bohm doesn’t believe that any animosity will carry into this weekend’s series against New York.

“I think it was a pretty intense weekend. Three pretty close games until the last one gets away,” he said. “But no, I don’t think it’ll carry on. I don’t think there’s going to be anything going on next week at all. Just two teams in the same division, trying to beat each other.”

Girardi said that Bryce Harper — who has a mild strain in his right arm — told him he felt “good” on Tuesday, but the right fielder would meet with the team doctor after Tuesday’s game against the Texas Rangers, regardless.