MILWAUKEE — José Alvarado fired ball four — a 99 mph sinker a few inches too inside — and raised his glove to his mouth. He shouted. The seeds for another late-inning Phillies bullpen meltdown were planted and, even then, the Phillies should have escaped a dramatic eighth inning Friday night with the lead.
Advertisement
But the bullpen, a unit that carried the Phillies for months when the offense didn’t score copious amounts and the rotation didn’t always pitch deep into games, looks vulnerable right now. Even if Alec Bohm had snared a routine grounder that would have preserved a one-run lead in an eventual 7-5 loss to the Brewers, the bullpen concerns would have persisted.
The Phillies jumped ahead in the eighth inning Wednesday with a breathtaking home run only to surrender the lead in the next half inning. They took Thursday off. Then Friday, they did it again.
“But it doesn’t bother me,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I don’t worry about this club because they fight.”
It’s September, but it does not feel like everything is held together by duct tape as in previous Septembers. The Phillies have assembled enough armor to prevent doubt from overcoming them. Bohm, in the past, might have allowed a debilitating three-run error to sink his confidence. “It’s not the end of the world,” Bohm said. “It’s a play I’m going to make most of the time.” He assumed blame for the loss.
Alvarado, such an integral piece to the club’s National League championship last season, resurrected his career by throwing a cutter. In April, he was unhittable. But he’s been sidelined twice this season by elbow soreness and does not have a feel for his cutter right now. That makes him a one-pitch pitcher — and that is an untenable formula.
He knows there is a path toward better times because he has been there.
“Honestly, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not going to tell you that I feel the same as I did at the beginning of the season,” Alvarado said through a team interpreter. “But I’m happy that I see the velocity coming back. The aggressiveness is there. Maybe a way to look at it is it’s just the bad start of the series. It’s baseball.”
Before the season, as the Phillies rebuilt their bullpen, they doubled down on stuff. They made bets on pitchers with big-time stuff — a carrying trait for any successful bullpen in 2023. It’s a group prone to extremes, good and bad.
Alvarado is the embodiment of that. So is Gregory Soto, who threw 15 pitches in a spotless inning before Alvarado, but has been rather unpredictable. He’s either untouchable or unstable. Craig Kimbrel, for months, has been more than the Phillies could have ever imagined as a 35-year-old closer. He blew two saves in eight days (and saved two others between those) so it’s only natural to wonder whether he’s showing the effects of an increasing workload. Seranthony Domínguez has lacked the true swing-and-miss stuff that made him one of the most important pitchers on last year’s team.
Advertisement
But this is the deal the Phillies made with their high-octane bullpen. No bullpen wields more velocity than the Phillies’ does. Their average fastball velocity — 96.3 mph — is the best in the sport.
“I think we’re just going through a little bit of a spurt,” Thomson said. “I think they’re going to bounce back. That’s a tough group down there. They have good stuff. Good stuff usually wins. It plays and it usually wins. I’m not overly concerned about that.”
Alvarado allowed one earned run in his first 14 appearances this season. He issued zero walks in that stretch. He went on the injured list with a 0.63 ERA. Friday, he walked consecutive batters. He has allowed earned runs in back-to-back outings for the first time all season. He is not the same pitcher he was; the Phillies didn’t expect him to repeat the otherworldly beginning of his season.
But they need a better version of Alvarado.
“I know I am the type of person who works hard,” Alvarado said. “I put in the work every day. So I really have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to be fine. It’s just a matter of time.”
He has evidence from 2022 and earlier in 2023 to justify that optimism. Almost everyone in the Phillies bullpen does.
“I still have all the confidence in them,” said Zack Wheeler, who struck out 10 and allowed a three-run homer in six innings. “I’ll gladly come out of the game and hand the ball to those guys.”
It is natural for Alvarado to be tentative after missing a month and then another six weeks with elbow pain. Upon his return in August, he was sitting at 97 mph as opposed to his typical 99 mph. He threw harder Friday but lacked command. The cutter is a pitch with such natural movement that the Phillies have instructed their catchers to set a target in the middle of the plate. There is no need to pinpoint the pitch. It does the work itself.
Advertisement
Alvarado, on Friday night, looked like someone trying to hit precise spots. He knew he didn’t have his cutter. He knew the Brewers hitters could sit on his sinker — no matter how hard he was throwing it — and that can mess with a pitcher’s head.
“The cutter has always been a pretty good pitch for me,” Alvarado said. “I have plenty of confidence in that pitch. It may not be as sharp as it usually is coming back from this injury. But I’m not even thinking about it. I’m getting on the mound, trying to get the job done. I have no doubts about that pitch.”
Thomson wanted Alvarado for the eighth inning because Milwaukee star Christian Yelich was the second batter due to hit. Yelich is a far better hitter against righties than lefties. He grounded out. That was the only out Alvarado recorded.
The Phillies, come October, feel confident about their options to combat lefty hitters. Soto’s numbers against them are elite. Matt Strahm has struck out 32 percent of the 88 lefty batters he’s faced and issued only two walks against them. Ranger Suárez, who will return from the injured list Sunday, could assume a hybrid role in the postseason, and he too has dominated lefties.
It’s a dynamic that could nudge Thomson toward being super aggressive with how he deploys his bullpen. It might not be Alvarado in the seventh or eighth inning. Thomson proved last October he’s willing to use his pitchers in any and every situation.
Maybe September calls for Strahm and Jeff Hoffman to seize higher-leverage chances. Hoffman assumed Alvarado’s mess Friday and should have extinguished it had Bohm not erred. He’s been one of the best relievers at stranding inherited runners. Those two relievers have some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in the bullpen. This month, if anything, is a time to solidify who can be trusted and who cannot.
“They’re there when we need them,” Wheeler said of the bullpen. “They have stepped up big for us. This happens from time to time. It’s going to happen.”
(Top photo of Alec Bohm after his error allowed three runs to score in the eighth inning Friday against the Brewers: Benny Sieu / USA Today)
