PHILADELPHIA – Stacking wins after digging the hole the Philadelphia Phillies dug themselves in back in April is paramount. It also might come at a cost.
Over their last 12 games, the nine wins the Phillies have racked up have come by three runs or less. That means it’s been a lot of high-leverage appearances from the top arms in the bullpen.
“I think in general, the first thing we look at are the guys we are using, making sure they stay healthy, not overusing them,” Don Mattingly said.
“The other side of it is that you won’t want to put guys in there just to get them in there if it could cost you a game.”
The Phillies can’t afford to go on another extended losing streak like they did in April where they saw themselves 10 games below .500. It’s been a remarkable turnaround under Mattingly. The team owns a 25-10 record under the interim manager, good for the best record in all of baseball during that stretch.
The manager didn’t mess around in Friday night’s 8-6 win after the offense broke a 6-6 tie in the seventh inning.
Brad Keller pitched the eighth, making his third appearance in the last four games.
Jhoan Duran, who arguably looks his best since joining the team at last year’s trade deadline, slammed the door in Friday night's victory facing the minimum. It marked the fourth appearance in the last six games for the flamethrowing closer who is tied for fourth in all of MLB with his 15 saves.
Some of the high leverage arms are still in a good spot in terms of appearances and innings pitched, but if this low-scoring, close winning trend continues, the workload is going to multiply quickly.
“Hopefully in a game like last night, if we were able to keep the score down, we would have been able to use different guys,” Mattingly said.
“But we haven't really been able to do that either if we score a few or if we don’t score a few, it seems like it keeps coming to our back end guys.”
Some of those different guys might have been forgotten by fans.
The trio of Tanner Banks, Tim Mayza and Chase Shugart appear to be spending their days in an equivalent to Alcatraz for relievers.
That’s not saying they are in bad standing with Mattingly. It’s more so the fact that 14 of the last 16 games the team has played have been decided by three runs or less. That's not the lane for those three relievers.
Banks hasn’t pitched nearly as well this season as he did last year, is sporting a 6.75 ERA in 21 appearances. He hasn’t pitched since May 31st against the Dodgers.
It’s the same series Mayza last pitched in who has had an even longer layoff, not seeing game action since May 29, which was the series opener against the defending champions.
Shugart also hasn’t pitched since May 31st.
It’s fair to wonder if there is some rust settling in for those three arms who are going on over a week since their last action in a game.
“It is in consideration," Mattingly said. “They aren't getting into the game as much as they’d like. They are throwing the ball. Some touch and feels, it’s not really a true bullpen.”
“There is something to them not getting out there, but it’s just the type of games we have been in. It’s probably more about us not scoring enough. If we score more, you are more willing to use those guys, but when we are in one-run games, you tend to use the guys you view as high leverage guys.”
Mattingly believes that the pitching overall has allowed the offense to buy time to continue to get back to the high-scoring lineup it expected to be coming into the season.
Over the last two games, the Phillies have scored 14 runs and pounded out 21 hits which is a good sign, but the margin of victory has been two runs in both of those games.
“Hopefully we can get those offensive games and the starting pitching can keep the scoring down so we can use those guys,” Mattingly said.
