Phillies’ Brandon Marsh leaves minor-league rehab start with cramping in his injured hamstring

CHICAGO — When the Phillies shelved Brandon Marsh last week, they characterized his strained right hamstring as “mild” and hoped he would be back in the lineup after 10 days.

There has been a complication.

Marsh left a triple-A game in the sixth inning Sunday with cramping in the injured hamstring, according to Phillies manager Rob Thomson. The center fielder was scheduled to return to Philadelphia for further evaluation Monday.

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The Phillies planned to reinstate Marsh from the injured list this week, possibly even before Tuesday night’s series opener at home against the Nationals. Now, even his minor league assignment might have to be halted.

“I’m not even sure if he’s going to continue that at this point,” Thomson said. “We’ve got to make sure [the injury] is gone.”

The Phillies brought Marsh back gradually at triple-A Lehigh Valley. He played five innings in center field Thursday night and seven innings Friday, then got five plate appearances Saturday as the designated hitter. The plan called for him to play the entire game Sunday.

Marsh, hitless in his last 31 at-bats with the Phillies, was 2-for-11 with three walks and six strikeouts in four triple-A games. Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Long watched video of his at-bats and had mixed reviews.

“Everything that people were talking about seemed to be positive, but there were a lot of strikeouts there,” Thomson said. “It looked like his timing was OK, so we’ll see. K-Long seemed to like the swings, the timing, and the balance.

“But I don’t know where we’re at now with the hammy.”

The Phillies committed to playing Marsh every day, against lefties as well as righties, in center field. But he got off to a 4-for-42 start with 16 strikeouts. So, although there’s never a good time to get injured, the Phillies were hoping Marsh could use the time down as an opportunity to reset his season.

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In Marsh’s absence, Johan Rojas started 10 consecutive games in center field, even though the Phillies faced nine right-handed starting pitchers in that stretch. Entering Sunday night’s series finale at Wrigley Field, he was 8-for-27 (.296) with a .333 on-base percentage and nine strikeouts in that time.

The Phillies called up lefty-hitting Cal Stevenson to replace Marsh on the roster and back up Rojas. Thomson said he would feel comfortable using utility infielder Edmundo Sosa in center field, especially for a day game.

A name to watch: Otto Kemp. An undrafted 25-year-old who would need to be added to the 40-man roster to get called up, Kemp is a natural infielder but recently made two starts in left field. He’s crushing triple-A pitching, batting .313 with a 1.072 OPS and seven homers, including a game-tying shot Sunday.

“He’s played really well,” Thomson said. “And he can play all over the diamond. He’s got a lot of value. He really does.”

But Marsh represents the Phillies’ best internal option to provide power from center field. They ranked 24th last season with a .353 slugging percentage from their center fielders (major-league average was .395). This year, they were 28th with a .247 mark through Saturday, well below the .386 league average.

Ranger Suárez (back) continued his journey back to the Phillies by allowing one run on four hits and two walks in 4⅔ innings for Lehigh Valley.

Is he ready to rejoin the rotation?

“Don’t know,” Thomson said. “We’ll meet him in Philadelphia.”

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Suárez threw 78 pitches, the highest total in four starts on a minor-league assignment that is doubling as spring training. He made only one Grapefruit League start.

But Thomson has said the Phillies want Suárez to get up to about 90 pitches before entering the rotation, likely in the spot occupied by Taijuan Walker. In that case, Suárez would probably get one more minor league start.

Cristopher Sánchez threw a bullpen session, as scheduled, and didn’t report problems with the achy left forearm that forced him from his previous start after two innings. The Phillies haven’t determined when he will make his next start, though they expect him to pitch at home this week. ... After a day off, Zack Wheeler (2-1, 3.62 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday night. Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (2-3, 3.34) is the probable starter for the Nationals in a rematch from opening day.