SARASOTA, Fla. — Phillies third baseman Cody Asche came away from Monday’s 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles with a significantly swollen right triceps.
Asche was hit with a pitch from Zach Britton in the sixth inning. He left the game favoring the arm, but checked out OK.
“I wasn’t removed from the game because of the hit by pitch,” he said. “I was coming out anyway. They told me before the at-bat.”
Asche was hit so hard that there was a seam mark on his arm. He joked that it was a tattoo.
“It hurts pretty bad,” he admitted.
“He’s got a lot of meat there,” manager Ryne Sandberg said. “He’ll be OK.”
Asche planned on icing the arm on the bus ride back to Clearwater. He might need a day or so to recover, but he, too, said he would be fine.
There was one benefit to getting hit on the right arm for the recently married Asche.
“Gets me out of writing thank you notes tonight,” he said.
The game
Seven games into the exhibition season, the Phillies are 3-3-1. They have hit just two home runs.
Utility infielder Andres Blanco hit the team’s second home run of the spring and that was all the offense in Monday’s 1-0 win.
Xavier Paul has the Phils’ other home run.
Both Blanco and Paul are non-roster players.
Ryan Howard had a pair of singles for the Phillies. He and Asche were the lone regulars in the starting lineup. Sources say the Orioles are keeping an eye on Howard this spring.
On the pitching side, Aaron Harang, Adam Morgan and Paul Clemens each pitched two scoreless innings. Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus and Luis Garcia all pitched one scoreless inning.
Up next
The Phillies host the Tigers in Clearwater on Tuesday. Alfredo Simon, a former Phillies minor leaguer, starts for the Tigers against Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez.
“I’m anxious to see him work ahead in the count and if his fastball is there, which it should be,” Sandberg said of the Gonzalez.