When the Phillies needed it the most, Kyle Schwarber came through. After being down 3-0 early, then 5-2 in the fourth, Kyle Schwarber went oppo for his seventh career grand slam to put the Phillies ahead, and they didn’t look back.
There’s a 4-pack of reasons the Phillies have been talking a lot lately about going to a 6-pack of starting pitchers soon as the longest season chugs through the dog days before entering the home stretch. They are, in no particular order:
Cristopher Sanchez: 2.41 earned run average in his first 16 games, 6.63 in seven outings since.
Ranger Suarez: 1.83 ERA in his first 16 starts, 7.71 in his next four before going on the injured list with lower back soreness.
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Aaron Nola: 2.77 ERA in his first 13 starts, 4.71 in 11 games since.
Zack Wheeler: 2.16 ERA in his first 14 games, 3.54 in his next 10.
Nola and Wheeler are among the Top 5 in innings pitched among National League starters. Sanchez and Suarez are rapidly approaching their career-high workloads. So it only makes sense to build in a little extra rest if possible. “The health of our rotation is of utmost importance,” manager Rob Thomson said Thursday afternoon.
At the same time, Baseball 101 suggests that one basic necessity of expanding the rotation to six is having six dependable starters. The first piece of that puzzle was put into place Tuesday when Taijuan Walker returned after seven weeks on the IL while recovering from an inflamed index finger. The second could happen as soon as next weekend in Kansas City; Suarez is scheduled to throw a simulated game Saturday or Sunday which, if all goes well, could clear the way for his reinstatement.
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The assumption all along has been that rookie Tyler Phillips would round out the group. In his fourth big league start, against the Guardians on July 27, he pitched a complete game shutout and lowered his ERA to 1.80. In three starts since, though, it’s 13.91.
“I think there’s a residual effect from the complete game that’s still going on,” Thomson said. “You’re seeing the ball up in the zone a little bit more. You don’t see quite as much sink. And that’s really his game, so hopefully we’ll get that back.”
For what it’s worth, Phillips rejected the idea that he was suffering from a complete game hangover after giving up five runs on nine hits and a walk in 4.1 innings against the Marlins on Wednesday night. “I don’t think it’s (that),” he said. “I think I’m just trying to do too much now. I’ve got to get my edge back.”
Thomson hedged just slightly when asked if Phillips would take his next scheduled turn Tuesday in Atlanta. “As of right now, yeah,” he said. He also dropped a small hint that going to an extra starter isn’t necessarily the foregone conclusion that it had seemed to be. “I’m always concerned with the 6-man because of how it taxes your bullpen. I’m fearful of that, so we’re just going to have to see where we’re at when we get to that,” he said.
AND THE SURVEY SAYS. . .: Rob Thomson reacted skeptically to Thursday’s report from ESPN that Major League Baseball is considering a drastic rules change that would require starting pitchers to remain the game for at least six innings unless they’ve allowed at least four runs, thrown 100 pitches or been injured.
“I think you’d be putting a lot of people in harm’s way,” he said.
And is there anything that can be done to return to the time when starters routinely pitched deep into games? “It starts at the minor league level. You’ve got to build pitch counts and things like that. The medical departments now are so good now that they understand what’s going to put people in harm’s way. That’s why the pitch counts are as low as they are,” he added.
UP NEXT: Matchups for the rest of the Nationals series: LHP Patrick Corbin (2-12, 5.98) vs. RHP Aaron Nola (11-6, 3.60) Friday at 6:40, LHP MacKenzie Gore (7-10, 4.50) vs. LHP Cristopher Sanchez (8-8, 3.63) Saturday at 6:05 p.m. and RHP Jake Irvin (9-10, 3.72) vs. RHP Taijuan Walker (3-4, 5.68) Sunday at 1:35 p.m.