Jean Segura takes pitch to the head in his return to Phillies’ lineup

Jean Segura appears to have dodged serious injury, if not a fastball at his head.

Two innings into his first game back in the Phillies’ lineup, Segura got beaned by a 90-mph fastball from Marlins starter Trevor Richards. After being hit on the helmet, Segura stayed down for several moments before walking off the field on his own. He was replaced at shortstop by Sean Rodriguez.

After the Phillies’ 12-9 victory, manager Gabe Kapler said Segura passed initial tests for a concussion but would be reevaluated on Sunday.

Segura missed the previous 10 games with a strained left hamstring, and the offense sputtered without him. The Phillies averaged 6.2 runs and 9.1 hits per game through 16 games with Segura in the lineup. Without him, they averaged 2.9 runs and 7.5 hits per game.

To say that Kapler was thrilled to write Segura’s name in the No. 2 spot in the batting order would be an understatement.

“It’s interesting how one guy can make the lineup look so much tougher to get through,” Kapler said after the Phillies reinstated Segura from the injured list and optioned outfielder Dylan Cozens to triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Acquired from the Mariners in a December trade, Segura is one of the best contact hitters in baseball, putting the bat on the ball 85.2 percent of the time entering Saturday night’s game. His bat-to-ball skills stand out, even among other talented Phillies hitters, who are prone to striking out. Bryce Harper, for instance, was making contact at only a 64.4 percent rate. Andrew McCutchen was at 64.6 percent.

"This guy is a legitimate .300 hitter and a stabilizing force on the left side of the infield," Kapler said of Segura. "When you remove that caliber of player, you're removing a player that does create this depth and this consistency in the lineup."

The Phillies will now cross their fingers that Segura isn’t absent for long.

It took 26 games for outfielder Nick Williams to crack the Phillies’ lineup. He was in there again Saturday night, marking his first back-to-back starts since Sept. 11-12 of last season, and he homered to center field in the second inning and singled in the fifth.

Playing time has been scarce for Williams because the Phillies have McCutchen in left field and Bryce Harper in right. But with center fielders Odubel Herrera (strained right hamstring) and Roman Quinn (strained right groin) on the injured list and Aaron Altherr off to a 1-for-26 start, Kapler has opted to use Williams in left field and move McCutchen to center.

It’s an alignment that the Phillies might consider even after Herrera’s probable return on Tuesday. Williams went 1-for-4 with a double on Friday night and threw out a runner at home plate on Thursday night. Kapler is encouraged by Williams’ apparent defensive improvement but reluctant to draw conclusions this early in the season.

Injured reliever Tommy Hunter, who has been working out at the Phillies’ training facility in Clearwater, Fla., joined the team for the weekend. Hunter strained the flexor tendon in his right forearm/elbow midway through spring training, had a setback in late March, and received a painful platelet-rich plasma injection on April 3. He said he could be cleared to begin light tossing on Wednesday. It’s unlikely he will return until at least June. ... Longtime play-by-play announcer Dan Baker missed a game for the first time since Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004 because he was under the weather. ... Zach Eflin, 0-3 with a 7.07 ERA in his last three starts, will face Marlins lefty Pablo Lopez on Sunday.