PHILADELPHIA — Minor issues for two of the Phillies’ starting pitchers ahead of the All-Star break are not necessarily warning signs, but manager Rob Thomson will take them as such.
The question facing Thomson and his MLB-leading Phillies when they return to action on Friday in Pittsburgh is how they might be able to extend the freshness of a pitching staff that has been exemplary but taxed.
A record-setting five members of that staff are headed for the All-Star Game, though two will hang back because of injuries. Back spasms cost Zack Wheeler Sunday’s start, which devolved into an 18-3 disaster at the hands of Oakland, and they’ll preclude Ranger Suarez’s participation in the All-Star festivities, though Thomson doesn’t expect him to miss a start.
Neither injury has Thomson particularly concerned above his high baseline worry for preserving arms.
Both Wheeler and Suarez will get extra days out of the break to work out their back problems.
Aaron Nola will start the series opener in Pittsburgh. Tyler Phillips and Christoher Sanchez will pitch in Pittsburgh on Saturday and Sunday, the order to be determined based on whether Sanchez pitches in the All-Star Game.
Wheeler and Suarez are lined up for the Detroit series next week.
Down the road, to help the Phillies stay fresh for the postseason, Thomson could opt for a six-man rotation.
“I’m always concerned, because to me, pitching wins,” he said Sunday. “But I think there’s ways — we’ve got a couple of long stretches like the West Coast trip, then we get into September and there’s a 13-day stretch — where we can go to a sixth starter if we need to. And we probably will.”
That would depend on a few things. First, the four main guys must stay healthy.
Phillips, who pitched into the seventh in his first big league start on Saturday, has to continue to produce and not turn into the second-start pumpkin that Michael Mercado has.
And, either Taijuan Walker or Spencer Turnbull would have to return to supply length every fifth day.
Walker (finger) came through a bullpen strong on Saturday and will throw again back home in Arizona during the All-Star break. Turnbull (shoulder) played catch for the first time on Saturday and will progress toward a throwing program in Clearwater.
The specter hanging over all the good feelings about the Phillies’ starters is how much they’ve worked, their 554.2 innings pitched this year is second-most in the league. Both Suarez and Sanchez are set to far exceed their innings pitched totals from last year and their career-high figures. It’s another consideration that for Thomson is not yet a worry but on the radar.
Stealing starts here and there — with extra days off, with a six-man rotation — could lessen the burden they carry into October. Because everyone in the clubhouse knows that the productivity of May is meaningless if it makes them physically unable to do the same in October.
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One pitcher looking increasingly unlikely to contribute to that spelling of the starters is Mercado.
After a great first start in Chicago, he’s gotten battered: 10 hits (six home runs), 11 earned runs, six walks in 5.2 innings pitched. He didn’t survive the second inning against Atlanta last week, and he scratched out four frames before tiring at just 77 pitches against the As on Sunday.
“The first thing is getting his feet underneath him, and then he started throwing strikes and getting ahead of people,” Thomson said. “And then he just got tired.”
For a pitcher with big-league stuff — a fastball at 96 mph, a cutter touching 90 — something is amiss. Some of that is control. More worrying are the home run balls: He allowed just two in 47 and a third innings in Triple-A this year, then six in 11 and two-thirds in the bigs.
That included homers of 450 and 452 feet to potential trade deadline target Brent Rooker. The 450-footer was the first to clear the batter’s eye in center from an opposing player since 2017 (Lucas Duda of the Mets).
“These are good hitters, obviously,” Mercado said. “Regardless of their record, they’re still major league hitters. I’ve just got to make pitches in those two-strike counts.”
Add in a 449-footer for the third of Lawrence Butler’s home runs on the day (and fourth of the weekend), and it was a historic affair for the As.
Oakland tied a franchise record (dating to 1901) with eight home runs, last done June 27, 1996, and for the first time ever had three players — Rooker, Butler and Seth Brown — hit multiple home runs.
The last homer, from Zack Gelof, was a grand slam off Garrett Stubbs. Jose Ruiz and Seranthony Dominguez allowed two homers each.
Source: Berkshire mont
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