PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Phillies (73-53) look to bring the brooms out and sweep the Seattle Mariners (68-59) Wednesday afternoon. Philadelphia won Tuesday night’s game in comeback fashion thanks to a J.T. Realmuto two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning to help seal a 6-4 victory after the Phillies took the series opener 12-7 on Monday.
Jesús Luzardo (11-6, 4.21 ERA) takes the mound for Philadelphia and will go against Luis Castillo (8-6, 3.48 ERA) in the matinee.
Duran and Alvardo provide high octane out of Phillies pen
The Phillies now have a lethal flamethrowing duo in the back of the bullpen until October rolls around with José Alvarado rejoining the roster on Tuesday. The two power arms now give Rob Thomson and the Phillies more flexibility late in games from both sides of the mound with Duran’s electric splitter at over 100 mph from the right side and Alvarado’s heavy sinker that also can hit triple digits.
“We have really good arms in the bullpen. He throws 100 mph too. We were good, but now we are really good. It’s impressive,” Duran said.
The bullpen has been very solid for the Phillies since the trade deadline and of course that has a lot to do with Duran, who has notched six saves in all six chances and has not allowed a walk in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, including his electric final out Tuesday night where he overpowered MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh on three straight fastballs.
The save on Tuesday also marked his 80th career save in 89 save opportunities which tied him for fifth fewest save opportunities needed to reach 80 saves in MLB history.
Now, add Alvardo into the mix and the Phillies have arguably the most electric two late inning arms in the game to help solidify an NL East division title. The two notably have been spending time with each other on the field, walking off together in each of the last two days.
“The first time he saw me he was happy,” Duran said on his first interaction with Alvarado.
Duran added: “He’s here now and we have more chances to win more games now. It’s great having him here now and the bullpen is complete.”
Alvarado tossed five scoreless innings during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley working his way back from his 80-game PED suspension. He will not be eligible to pitch in the postseason, but will look to help the Phillies stack as many wins as they can over their final 36 regular season games.
Red-hot Realmuto stays in lineup
The Phillies lineup Wednesday includes Realmuto hitting cleanup despite catching in Tuesday night’s game. What typically is a given start to Rafael Marchán to give Realmuto a breather, Rob Thomson elected to keep his red-hot backstop in the lineup.
Realmuto demolished his ninth homer of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday for a go-ahead two-run shot to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead. It was 108 mph off the bat and traveled 431 feet.
Realmuto has been one of the best hitters for nearly two months hitting .346 (No. 2 in MLB) with an .893 OPS since July 1.
Also of note, Nick Castellanos is not in the starting lineup Wednesday after going 0-for-4 in Tuesday’s win. However, prior to the hitless performance, he had posted back-to-back two-hit games. It appears Castellanos may now be part of the overall outfield rotation.
Turner’s 1,500th was not his first home run at CBP this season
Trea Turner, after the game on Monday, said on the Phillies’ postgame show he was “proud that (his) 1500th hit wasn’t an infield single.” Unfortunately for Turner, that is actually the case.
It was announced late morning Wednesday that MLB has retroactively awarded the shortstop an infield hit from Sunday in the series finale at Washington which was previously ruled an error. The long ball marked his 1,501st career-hit.
