For Hoskins the homer was his ninth in 16 games and marked the sixth consecutive game where he's gone yard. No player in major league history has reached nine homers this quickly.
“You get into the zones, you know? You can’t really explain it,” Hoskins said. “There’s a lot of just bliss I guess, no thinking involved. It’s just one of those things. I’m not missing. The game is a lot tougher when you miss pitches. And you do, it’s the nature of the game. But I’m not missing for the most part.”
Hoskins is far from cocky, but he's not stunned by his display of power at the big league level.
“I’m confident in the ability that I have. I don’t know what word to put on it. Shocked is definitely not it,” Hoskins said. “I’m trying to just lose myself in the routine and the preparation, and let the ability shine through when it’s game time.”
Hoskins' blast highlighted a two inning six run romp for the Phillies that essentially put the game away for hurler Jerad Eickhoff. The righthander struck out eight and walked three, surrendering one run.
Velocity, however, was a concern as it's been as of late for Eickhoff. His fastball sat at just 89.3 mph.
“Velocity can be important but so is movement on your pitches and location and deception,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “He threw a ton of curveballs today and look at Rich Hill. He throws a ton of curveballs and that might be what he has to do the rest of his career. I’d like to see him add one more pitch to his repertoire but he was very effective and kept them off balanced.”
The two clubs resume their three-game set on Saturday with Ben Lively set to oppose Kyle Kendricks.
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