Bottom of lineup, end of bullpen encourage, but rest struggle as Phillies drop series to Mets
The way the Phillies’ bullpen is set up right now, there is José Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and everyone else. It means that a single encouraging outing can establish someone as the top dog among the rest, until someone, perhaps including that same reliever, changes it. On Tuesday, that outing belonged to Joe Ross.
After two laborious innings from Cristopher Sánchez caused understandable dread about the Phillies’ bullpen needing to piece together far more outs than it seemed capable of, the real trouble was something potentially much worse.
The bullpen, against all odds, did its part. Ross — who allowed four runs in one inning six days ago, who entered with a 7.45 ERA — fired three innings of one-hit, shutout ball to keep a 2-1 deficit right there. Jordan Romano — whose six-run Saturday raised his ERA to 15.26 — threw a scoreless inning. Tanner Banks was an accurate throw on a comebacker from a perfect inning. Carlos Hernández pitched around a hit and a walk.
Ironically, on a night when the untrusted relievers came through, it was Kerkering who didn’t. He allowed Banks’ inherited runner to score, then walked two (one intentionally, after a wild pitch) and served up a two-run single to make it 5-1.
Much like Monday, and much like the final two games of the NLDS, the Phillies spent all night waiting for the dam to fall because the heart of the lineup fell flat. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, who followed up Bryson Stott’s three-run homer with two brutal at bats to end it on Monday, picked up where they left off and stretched to a combined 0-for-13 this series. Kyle Schwarber got inexplicably doubled off of first. Nick Castellanos twice came up empty with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, the last four spots in the lineup went 5-for-14 with a double and two walks, creating the Phillies’ only rally of the game — punctuated by a Johan Rojas RBI single and ended by the top of the lineup.
As far as importance goes, all of it — the top of the lineup’s woes, the bullpen’s mostly refreshing night — pales in comparison to the health of Cristopher Sánchez. More on that, here.
The Mets win the series and stretch their National League East lead to four games. The Phillies have lost 10 of 17.