With a borrowed glove, Edmundo Sosa is penciled in as the starting left fielder

As he prepared to start in left field on Saturday against the Rockies, Edmundo Sosa had a brown and red outfielder’s glove with “KYLE SCHWARBER” stitched on it in blue lettering.

Sosa borrowed the glove from his teammate before making his second career outfield start because he didn’t have his own. Schwarber told him he had an open invitation to take it from his locker if he ever needed it.

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly penciled Sosa in left field against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland on Saturday. Bryson Stott started at second, Brandon Marsh slid over to center field, and Justin Crawford — fresh off his first major league home run on Friday — was given a day off.

“I thought, ‘Might as well go for it,’” Mattingly said. “Get it started. It’s a way to put the best guys on the field, at least, and give us some versatility out left field, to be able to mix and match with our lefties. Some days, Craw will get a day, like today. Some days, Stott, still. Some days, Marsh. Whatever we need.”

Sosa entered Saturday hitting .254 with a .635 OPS in 21 games this year. He’s come up clutch in some big moments, most recently on Wednesday against the Athletics when he drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Mattingly told Sosa a few days ago to be prepared to play the outfield if needed. He has been working with outfield coach Paco Figueroa, who felt confident in his skills.

“I just take it as a challenge,” Sosa said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “I prepared [Friday] most of the day. I prepared [Saturday], as well. I’ll just take it as a challenge today and try to go out there on the field and catch every single ball that comes at me.”

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The Phillies have discussed experimenting with Sosa in the outfield for the past few seasons, in an effort to increase his versatility and keep his bat in the lineup more often. So far, it hasn’t stuck.

Sosa had an eventful first — and only — start in left field last season. On his first play of the game against the Braves, he robbed a home run from Marcell Ozuna. But the next inning, a miscommunication with Johan Rojas led to a routine fly ball dropping between them, which snowballed into three runs.

“The biggest challenge in the outfield is that you can never stop running until you get the ball,” Sosa said. “So I think that’s what that catch taught me in that game, that you can never give up on the ball.”

On Saturday, he did drills pregame with Marsh, who Sosa said brought “great vibes.” But one person he hasn’t had the chance to ask for outfield advice from is his best friend Adolis García, who is a Gold Glove right fielder.

“If he doesn’t give me something today, I’ll just smack him in the head,” Sosa said, jokingly. “He has to share some experience there. … He’s been moving around a lot today. He’s been busy, but I feel like at some point he’s going to come to me and share something.”

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