PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies are down a left-handed arm for the foreseeable future with Jose Alvarado placed on the restricted list on Monday.
For manager Rob Thomson, the loss of a high-leverage lefty slides everyone up a notch, with a twist.
Thomson on Tuesday labeled Orion Kerkering as the next highest-leverage option against lefties behind Matt Strahm. Until Alvarado comes back, Strahm will be ticketed for an opponent’s patch of top lefties. But some combination of Kerkering, lefty Tanner Banks and Jeff Hoffman will be part of the equation.
“I look at it like Kerkering is kind of a lefty too, because he’s got good splits against lefties,” Thomson said. “So really, we still have three lefties in the ‘pen, in my mind. Banks is going to take down a little bit bigger role.”
Thomson has shown in the postseason — and, postseason-like games, such as this stretch of 13 straight against likely playoff qualifiers — a decided pattern in bullpen usage. Whether it was Brad Hand augmenting Alvarado and Ranger Suarez in 2022 or Gregory Soto before Strahm and Alvarado last year, Thomson likes options.
Getting Banks from the White Sox at the deadline while offloading Soto to Baltimore was vital to maintain balance. Until Alvarado is back, Thomson may have to freelance a tad.
Kerkering’s sample size is small. In the minor leagues last year, lefties hit .129 against him with righties at .239. The splits have normalized this year, lefties hitting .266 and righties .208. Both of his home runs in 2024 and 10 of his 13 walks have been allowed to lefties.
Hoffman’s splits against lefties only look modest because righties can’t hit him. Lefties are batting .228 with three homers, as opposed to .171 for righties.
The Phillies have largely struggled with lefties this year, as a staff 21st in baseball with a 4.41 ERA and 18th in fielding independent pitching (FIP) at 4.34.
Thomson said he has no timeline on when Alvarado will be back, though he does expect him to return. The club said he departed to attend to a “personal matter.”
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Lost in Monday night’s heroics, between Johan Rojas’ diving catch in the top of the 10th and Bryce Harper’s walk-off hit, was the job done by Strahm.
With the ghost runner on second, Strahm got Alex Bregman to strike out, Yordan Alvarez to ground out to first and Yainer Diaz to hit the liner that Rojas gloved.
In his year and a half as a Phillie, Strahm has not allowed a base hit in 5.2 innings pitched in extras. He’s allowed the inherited runner to score three times in six innings with three walks (one intentional) and five strikeouts. He’s 2-1 with a save in five appearances.
“He’s one of our better guys we have to come in in dirty innings and get out of it, and that’s kind of like a dirty inning,” Thomson said. “He gets a lot of swing-and-miss, he gets a lot of fly balls. I think he’s good in that spot, just because he does get a lot of swing-and-miss and the pressure doesn’t affect him.”
Strahm suffered the loss May 28 against San Francisco when two fly balls turned into a walk-off run. But he’s been on the right side of the ledger far more often than not.
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If the Phillies are going to get where they want to go, they’re going to need Austin Hays to contribute. And if he wants to be in the lineup regularly, a .205 batting average against righties won’t cut it.
A double to lead off the third inning and spark a four-run rally Tuesday against Justin Verlander, though, is more like it.
“He’s just coming off (the ball) a little bit,” Thomson diagnosed. “He’s just got to stay a little bit more right-center.”
Hays, who has struggled with injuries, entered hitting .205 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 132 at-bats against righties this year. He’s hitting .333 against lefties.
Contrast that to his All-Star season in 2023 when he hit .280 against righties. His double, 311 feet in the air and 103.0 mph off the bat, was to left.
NOTES >> Taijuan Walker (3-5, 6.26 ERA) will start Wednesday’s finale against the Astros’ Spencer Arrighetti (6-11, 4.94). It’s a 4:05 start. Walker has struggled mightily of late. Thomson has backed the veteran righty and said that his midweek bullpen was, “one of his better bullpens of late,” per pitching coach Caleb Cotham. … The dreams of David Buchanan replacing him in the rotation ended for another reason, the Phillies trading the 35-year-old to Cincinnati, per The Athletic. Buchanan was 9-3 with a 4.82 ERA in 22 games (16 starts) in Lehigh Valley. He made 35 starts for the Phillies in 2014 and 2015 before nearly a decade playing in Japan and South Korea.
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