July and early August was a rough stretch for Philadelphia sports fans. Reminiscent of the Eagles collapse mid-way through this past NFL season, the Phillies seemed to be going through the beginnings of a downturn themselves. The rumblings of panic from fans in Philly seemed reasonable enough – their beloved football team went from 10-1 to 11-6, losing the division, and suffering a first-round exit in the playoffs. The question on their minds – would the Fightin’s suffer the same ill-fated fall from grace, or would they be able to grab a ledge and pull themselves back up à la Lara Croft from Tomb Raider?
After a rough stretch where the team went 7-17, the Phillies are suddenly 9-4 over their last 13 contests, and have an opportunity to sweep the AL West leading Houston Astros. I recently wrote about how the offense has started to rebound, but just as they did to solidify their strong start, they have once again relied on their pitching staff to drag them back out into the light and rescue fans from their midsummer doldrums.
Phillies starters make an impact
Much has been discussed about tonight’s starter, Taijuan Walker, and where he stands in the pecking order for the remainder of 2024. Several injuries, including to Walker, Spencer Turnbull, and Ranger Suárez, forced a dominant part of the team to suddenly be in flux – the club not always knowing who or where they would get their next start from.
The return of Suárez has helped things stabilize, but their staff leaders – Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler – have reminded everyone that their top two guys can match up with anyone and shut down any lineup. Over this recent strong stretch, here’s the lines for both guys:
- Wheeler: 2-1 record (3 starts), 18.0 IP, 2.50 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 20 Ks, 2 BBs
- Nola: 3-0 record (3 starts), 19.0 IP, 0.95 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 15 Ks, 5 BBs
Nola was especially electric last night. As he left the field, having completed seven innings on 102 pitches, he was greeted by a standing ovation from the Philly faithful. His seven innings also allowed the Phillies to reach an interesting milestone – per Destiny Lugardo of Phillies Nation, last night’s victory is the 31st time a Philadelphia starter has gone seven or more innings. The Phillies are 30-1 in those games, rattling off 30 straight victories with their single loss coming back on April 9 against St. Louis.
Manager Rob Thomson spoke about Nola’s performance after Tuesday’s win:
“He really attacked and his curveball was really good, and he touched 94 – threw strikes. In the fifth inning, I thought maybe he was not attacking the hitters like he normally does. I went down just to see if he was okay, and he said, ‘I gotta get ahead. I gotta attack these guys’ and that’s what he did in the 6th and 7th and it was really good.“
Thomson had enough confidence to send Nola back out for inning No. 7, despite the right-hander already throwing 93 pitches. He was efficient, only needing nine pitches to sit the Astros down in order. the Phillies manager did note he would had to “cap him at 105 because the next starts on regular rest” but no cap was necessary.
Bullpen rebound
One issue plaguing the Phillies after the All-Star break was their relief pitching. A group of high-leverage arms who dominated hitters in the early going, seemingly lost whatever sparked them in the first few months.
After the break until this recent 9-4 stretch; Matt Strahm, José Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, and Jeff Hoffman all had ERAs over 5.00, with Alvarado and Kerkering being at 7.00+! However, the core four relievers have rebounded in a big way since then.
Since August 14:
- José Alvarado: 4.0 IP, 1.93 ERA, 2.14 ERA, 3:6 K:B
- Jeff Hoffman: 5.1 IP, 1.69 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 4:1 K:BB
- Orion Kerkering: 5.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 6:1 K:BB
- Matt Strahm: 5.2 IP, 1.59 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 6:1 K:B
Add in Tanner Banks’ 1.69 ERA, plus no one in the bullpen having gaudy numbers the last two weeks, and they seem like they are fully back. In fact, they have the best bullpen ERA over that stretch!
Now, the team did announce that Alvarado was moved to the restricted list, so they will need to find support elsewhere at the back end of the pen, but Topper trusts his arms. In the announcement from the Phillies, they simply said that Alvarado had “left the club to deal with a personal matter.” According to Tim Kelly of Phillies Nation, the club does expect the hard-throwing lefty to return this season, but there is currently no timeline for his return.
Regardless of who is back there, if they continue to pitch as they have these last two weeks, the staff – both starters and relievers – will carry this team to the top of the standings, just as it did in the first few months of the season.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
