Jeremy Hellickson regrets hitting his Opening Day triple - MLB

Jeremy Hellickson got the Opening Day start for the Phillies on Monday afternoon against the Reds. He accomplished an Opening Day feat that no Phillie had done since 1918, but he did it in the batter’s box, not on the mound: Hellickson hit an RBI triple in the top of the sixth inning off of Blake Wood. Hellickson became the first Phillies pitcher to triple on Opening Day since Erskine Mayer on April 16, 1918 in the Baker Bowl.

Hellickson, however, regrets hitting that triple because it literally took his breath away. Per Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hellickson said, “I was catching my breath for about 30 minutes after I got back in there. Last time I’ll be doing that.”

Hellickson’s teammates told him to take some extra time to catch his breath in the dugout before going out to pitch the bottom half of the sixth. He gave up a leadoff double to Adam Duvall before manager Pete Mackanin relieved him with Joaquin Benoit. Mackanin said he had a quick hook with Hellickson as a combination of the triple, the right-hander’s pitch count, the stressful third and fourth innings, and heavy air from a storm that passed through.

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Houston Astros star Jose Altuve had surgery Wednesday on his broken right thumb, an injury that occurred in the World Baseball Classic and will significantly delay the second baseman’s 2023 debut.

The Astros announced that the 32-year-old Altuve had the procedure done in Houston and will stay there to begin his rehabilitation, with only one week left in spring training. The Astros will fly there on Sunday following their final Grapefruit League game in Florida, before playing a pair of exhibitions against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, in Texas.

Altuve was hit by a pitch on Saturday while playing for Venezuela in the WBC. He might not be ready to return to the lineup until at least late May. The eight-time All-Star and 2017 American League MVP batted .300 with 103 runs, 28 homers and 18 steals for the World Series champion Astros last season. Mauricio Dubón and David Hensley are the leading candidates to fill in for Altuve at second base.

Altuve isn’t the only Major League Baseball star who was hurt in WBC play, of course. Mets closer Edwin Díaz will miss the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon in his right knee as the freak result of an on-field celebration following a WBC win by the Puerto Rico national team.

BROWN DOWN

The Astros also scratched right-hander Hunter Brown from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Brown, who is ranked by MLB as the organization’s top prospect and competing for the last spot in the rotation, has discomfort in his lower back.

NOT QUITE READY

The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.

Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.

The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.

Speaking of the Mets, Díaz turned 29 on Wednesday – a rather subdued milestone for the right-hander considering his situation. Diaz nonetheless posted in Spanish an upbeat message on his Twitter account, thanking God for another year of life and describing his health as good and his outlook as positive in this initial stage of the roughly eight-month rehabilitation process.