In Games 3 and 4, one of the Phillies' counters to Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana (left-handed starting pitcher and left-handed hitter Brandon Marsh was taken out of the lineup) didn't even know if he'd be back this season. There wasn't.
In early September, less than two months after Philadelphia acquired him from Baltimore before the trade deadline, 2023 All-Star outfielder Austin Hayes was placed on injured reserve with a kidney infection.
After signing, he had already missed the chance to play due to a left hamstring strain, but this time it was different.
Hayes said it was difficult to determine the source of the infection.
they tested it. They treated it.
When he didn't heal as quickly as expected, they continued treatment and continued testing.
However, by the end of the regular season, Hayes returned for three games.
By Game 2 of the NLDS, he made a cameo appearance as a pinch hitter. This was a “huge step” for him, he said.
Two days later, as manager Rob Thomson said before the series, Hayes started Game 3 of the National LDS game between the Phillies and Mets at Citi Field (a 7-2 loss). , returning, making the playoff roster, and eventually appearing in a game.
“I don't feel shy at all in any phase of the game,” Hayes said. Hayes played left field and went 0-for-3 in the game. “My power, my strength, my speed is there. So I feel like myself all the way. It was very difficult to get back to that point.”
After the game, Thomson said, “He looked a little rusty and a little off balance. His timing was a little off.”
He became a regular starter after the Phillies acquired Hayes in July, sending Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Cristian Pache to Baltimore.
He batted .254 with one home run and five RBIs in 19 games.
But then the final month of the season was derailed by an infection that the Philadelphia Inquirer reported was probably the result of eating contaminated food.
Initially, Hayes started to improve, but then the effects came back and more tests were done, which actually yielded better results, he said.
Between the hamstring injury and the infection, Hayes knew his trainer better than the Phillies players he briefly shared the dugout with, he said.
After that, it was all about getting enough games and at-bats as he recovered.
He played a rehab game.
The Phillies practiced and played a nine-inning red-and-white game before the NLDS game.
Hayes had two hits in 11 at-bats and a home run in three games in the final week of the regular season.
But his Game 2 at-bat — a nine-inning, four-pitch strikeout after entering the field as a defensive replacement — represented another step toward normalcy.
There were waning doubts that he would be able to overcome the infection and return this season.
“It was good to give him an at-bat and put him in that environment,” Thomson said before the game. “I think when you take your first at-bat in that environment, it probably increases a player’s speed, and now that he’s experienced that, I think it’s going to relax him and move forward. ”
