Two nights after laboring through 31 pitches and looking completely off, and perhaps even hurt, Ken Giles returned to the mound Friday night and delivered the bounce-back outing he and the Phillies needed to see.
After the Phils struck for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 4-1 lead over visiting Washington (see Instant Replay), Giles locked down the eighth inning as he did so many times last season.
His fastball was still sitting mostly in the 94-95 mph range, but his slider was crisp, breaking late and sharply and keeping the Nationals’ hitters off balance.
Giles struck out two, including Bryce Harper looking at a slider with a man on second to end the inning. Harper couldn’t believe it, but it was a strike.
“It was good to see Giles. He’s working on some things. He made some good adjustments on his slider for this game and that was his big pitch with Harper was quality sliders,” manager Ryne Sandberg said.
“So really saw an improved slider. Still working on his fastball, but he did throw a couple in the zone that kept them honest.”
Giles is indeed still working back to that high-90s fastball that Phillies fans fell in love with a season ago. But a mid-90s heater is still quite effective, especially when it’s supplemented with one of the game’s nastiest sliders.
“I just told him to throw it through me,” catcher Cameron Rupp said. “He’s got two good pitches, so it’s either/or. When he’s locating that fastball, the slider’s even better.”
Giles’ inning wasn’t perfect -- he allowed a two-out double to Yunel Escobar, the first extra-base hit he’s given up since Aug. 20, 2014, a span of 68 plate appearances.
But his command –- 12 strikes, five balls –- was significantly better.
Jonathan Papelbon followed with a 10-pitch, nine-strike, perfect inning for his 108th save as a Phillie. He’s just four away from tying Jose Mesa’s franchise record.
And Luis Garcia’s quiet effectiveness cannot be ignored, either. Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, extending his career-long scoreless streak to 9 2/3 innings. His opponents are 3 for 32 over that stretch.
If Garcia can be the next reliever to emerge in a group that already includes the talents of Papelbon, Giles, Jake Diekman and Justin De Fratus, the Phillies’ bullpen will be that much deeper. The hard-throwing Garcia has been lights-out at Triple A in recent seasons but hasn’t carried that success over to the majors until recently.
Rehab notes
Chad Billingsley allowed two home runs and three runs total in 3 1/3 innings in a rehab start at Triple A Lehigh Valley. He struck out four. One of the homers was hit by second baseman Sean Coyle, an under-the-radar Red Sox prospect who graduated from Germantown Academy and has drawn comparisons to Dustin Pedroia with his build and unlikely power.
Domonic Brown (Achilles) went 0 for 2 with a strikeout at Clearwater, playing five innings for the second straight night. Brown is 0 for 4 with three Ks in two rehab games. Sandberg said prior to Friday’s game that the Phillies’ plan is to have Brown spend two or three weeks on a rehab assignment before he is brought up to the bigs.