PHILADELPHIA — It’s May 24 and Brandon Marsh already has exactly half as many at-bats (38) against left-handed pitching as he had all of last year (76).

He is an everyday player out of necessity for now. The Phillies plan against left-handed starting pitchers is a work in progress. The Phillies penciled in Justin Crawford in the offseason as an everyday center fielder only to protect him against left-handed starters. He hit lefties last year in Triple-A, but is 2-for-32 against southpaws in a limited sample size. Otto Kemp, touted as a platoon partner for Marsh in left field, did not start in Sunday’s game. He is hitless in five at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Edmundo Sosa, a lefty masher in most years, has not been as good with the platoon advantage this year. The Phillies started him again in left field on Sunday and his inexperience at the position showed. J.T. Realmuto, who struggled to the tune of a .601 OPS against lefties this year, has a .423 OPS against them this year. Trea Turner, off to an uncharacteristically slow start, has a .601 OPS against lefties.

If you’re sick of the lefty/righty talk, just know that you’re not alone. The Phillies are too, though to avoid hearing about it, the right-handed hitters, especially Turner, need to start hitting lefties.

“I guess that’s the big statistic this year, but I don’t really think about that,” Turner said. “When you’re up to bat, it feels like you’re just competing. I think that’s more of a coincidence than anything.”

All things considered, Alec Bohm (.792 OPS) and Adolis García (.762 OPS) have been the Phillies’ best right-handed hitters against lefties.

The usual suspect Kyle Schwarber (.975 OPS) is their best hitter against lefties period. Just behind him is a surprising name: Bryson Stott. Stott struggled badly against lefties in 2024 and 2025. Like Marsh, he has broken out of the platoon for now. Stott recorded two singles on Sunday against Guardians left-handed starter Parker Messick.

“Our lefties actually, I felt like, handled (Messick) better than the righties today,” Mattingly said. “Stotty had good at-bats, Schwarbs had good at-bats, Harp good at-bats, Marsh good at-bats. Our lefties were good against that angle today. Our righties just have to solve that problem.”

Phillies left-handed hitters recorded four of the five hits against Messick. Marsh also tripled in the seventh inning against lefty Tim Herrin. He has two triples this year against left-handed pitchers. His .728 OPS against lefties in 2026 is a big improvement from his .576 OPS in 2025.

The Phillies protected Stott against lefties early in the season, but under Mattingly, Stott is getting more regular looks against left-handed pitching. In 26 at-bats against lefties, Stott is batting .346 with a .952 OPS. He had a .575 OPS in 2025 and a .595 OPS in 2024 against lefties.

The numbers are strange. Entering Sunday, the Phillies had the fifth-best OPS in the league from left-handed hitters against left-handed pitching (.749). It’s a continuation of last year, when the Phillies were the second-best left-on-left hitting team thanks to Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Harper has actually taken a step back this year against lefties, as he’s batting only .214 with a .687 OPS against lefties in 70 at-bats.

But when it comes to right-handed hitters against lefties, the Phillies are still at the bottom of the league with a .623 OPS entering Sunday.

Really, the Phillies didn’t hit much at all this weekend against the Guardians. It was a well-pitched series that saw the Phillies on the short end. They limited the Guardians to just four runs over three games — and still lost two out of three.

“Those type of games are playoff-type games, honestly,” Mattingly said. “You get pitching like that, bullpens that are good, it’s going to be the little things that we’re able to do, scratch for a run here or there, that are going to make a difference. This series, we didn’t do it. In general, we played well, we just didn’t score. The series could have went either way, right? We could have won three games in this series, the way we threw the ball. We could have lost all three games this series the way we scored.”