Phillies Notes: Franco punctuates big week with home run

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg did a little campaigning on behalf of third baseman Maikel Franco after a 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.

"He is probably up for player of the week with the homestand and the week he had," Sandberg said.

Franco has a six-game hitting streak. In that time he is 10 for 25 (.400) with three doubles, four home runs and eight RBIs.

On Sunday, Franco hit a 427-foot home run to left-center that exploded off his bat. "I feel confident and comfortable," he said.

He now has six home runs in 87 at-bats and sports an .815 on base-plus-slugging percentage.

"Really, this is the first time I have seen what he can do on the power side of things," said Sandberg, who saw Franco hit .179 with no home runs in 56 at-bats during his call-up last September.

"I have seen him kind of stay under control instead of having too big a swing," Sandberg said. "That is when the ball really jumps."

Top pitching prospect Aaron Nola will miss his next start at Reading, but it has nothing to do with injury, according to Joe Jordan, the Phillies' director of player development.

"This is all scheduled," Jordan said. "We will skip starting pitchers in our system throughout the year."

Already, fellow Reading righthander Zach Eflin has skipped a start. "Nola and Eflin have gone deep into games and this is all scheduled and nothing more than that," Jordan said.

Nola has made 11 starts and is 7-3 with a 1.76 ERA. In 712/3 innings, he has struck out 54 and walked eight.

The Phillies optioned righthander Severino Gonzalez to triple-A Lehigh Valley. The team still must make a corresponding move. Gonzalez is 2-2 with an 8.69 ERA in five starts covering 192/3 innings.

The Phillies received six workmanlike innings from starter Sean O'Sullivan, who allowed seven hits and three earned runs while walking two and striking out none.

In the previous five games, the Phillies bullpen had pitched 202/3 innings, so O'Sullivan wanted to go at least six innings.

"Knowing our bullpen was kind of thin going into today . . . I wanted to go as far as I could," O'Sullivan said.

Jonathan Papelbon earned the save, his first since May 20 at Colorado. Papelbon has converted all 12 save opportunities this year and has a streak of 14 in a row.

- Marc Narducci