PHILADELPHIA — There was one man left in the Phillies’ bullpen Thursday in the 10th inning of the second game of a doubleheader.
Chase Shugart had already thrown four pitches in Game 1 against the San Francisco Giants. But there he was, warming up once more before throwing 16 pitches to help the Phillies seal their second walk-off win of the day. Half an hour later, dressed for the team’s flight to Miami, he could still feel it coursing through him.
“There’s a lot of adrenaline,” Shugart said. “It feels good to play winning baseball.”
The Phillies, losers of 10 straight as of one week ago, have now won three games in a row. The third came during a bullpen game, which in the end came down to a reliever who did not make the Opening Day roster delivering, while scuffling third baseman Alec Bohm made an incredible defensive play to save a run before he notched the game-winning sacrifice fly. The Phillies will take that effort from anyone, anywhere. It is all hands on deck, as they now sit at 12-19 entering a wraparound series in Miami.
Speaking of the Marlins: Bohm’s diving play against Luis Arraez was first dreamed up a couple of years ago, he said, when the Phillies’ defense tried moving around to figure out if they could get Arraez — then with the Marlins — to hit something right at them. On Friday, Bohm saw Arraez looking at him when he was closer to third.
“At the last second,” Bohm said, “I took a couple hops toward the hole.”
It paid off. He caught the ball. And Shugart got to leave the mound pumping his fists en route to becoming the first major-league pitcher to win two games in a day since 2013.
Stott’s big payoff
Bryson Stott has hit the ball hard at a higher rate over the first five weeks of the season than in any month of his big-league career except August 2023. He stepped into the batter’s box in the ninth inning of Thursday’s first game with three extra-base hits in 89 plate appearances.
“I can’t remember that I’ve ever hit this many fastballs off the end of my bat,” Stott said.
Before a tying triple in the first game Thursday, Bryson Stott had only two extra-base hits this season. (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
But Stott is committed to the adjustment. He made a decision halfway through last season to think about driving the ball more. He has the quick hands and power to do it. Then, he did it well for two months last season and into spring training this year.
In that ninth inning, he saw eight straight sinkers from cross-firing righty Ryan Walker. Everything was away and away. Stott worked a full count. Walker delivered a ninth fastball, right down the middle, and maybe it was a gift from the baseball gods.
Stott ripped it to the right-field corner for a tying triple.
It was especially gratifying because, five innings earlier, Stott struck out on three pitches with two runners in scoring position and no outs. It was one of the worst at-bats any Phillies hitter has taken this season. (That is a long list.)
Stott has a .534 OPS. It’s a results-based game. The results have not been good. Stott often looks like he is caught between approaches, but he has insisted that, mechanically, everything is near where he wants it.
The Phillies want Stott to stick with the changes. They are desperate for some production in the middle of the lineup. Maybe, as a carrot, interim manager Don Mattingly batted Stott fifth in Thursday’s nightcap. It was the highest he had batted in the order since April 12; he went 0-for-3.
Looking at the lefties
Thursday naturally provided a better glimpse of a tested bullpen. The Phillies entered the first game with two relievers from the Opening Day roster on the injured list, with a third (Kyle Backhus) added between games due to elbow inflammation.
Mattingly said Backhus will be fine and that the club did not want to risk further injury. But the loss of Backhus, even if it’s just for two weeks, is meaningful. The Phillies were prepared to make him their second left-handed choice behind José Alvarado because Tanner Banks has not pitched well.
Tim Mayza, who gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in his previous nine innings entering Thursday, looked solid. Banks struck out two and gave up two hits in 1 1/3 innings in the first game. Mattingly pulled him with two runners on in the ninth. He was not going to risk it.
Alvarado, however, continued a puzzling trend. He was brought in to face left-handed Rafael Devers with the score tied in the ninth inning of the second game and quickly gave up a hit. Left-handed Jung Hoo Lee punched an elevated sinker for another hit shortly after. The Giants took the lead, though the run is credited to Brad Keller, whom Alvarado replaced.
Left-handed batters are now hitting .545 in 22 at-bats against the hard-throwing Alvarado. His command and execution have not always been sharp. But it’s hard to fully explain that number without a greater sample.
Learning the art of the steal
Kyle Schwarber douses Justin Crawford after his walk-off single in the first game. (Isaiah Vazquez / Getty Images)
Justin Crawford’s first 30 games in the majors featured two walk-off hits. He experienced success early, then slumped. He’s seen a lot already. He is now playing for a man who managed his father.
“Donnie kind of reminded me,” Crawford said, “like, ‘Play your game. Go out there, play hard. Get on with anything you can.’ It kind of reminded me.”
Crawford used his speed in Thursday’s first game by bunting for a hit and legging out the game-winning infield single.
But Crawford was caught stealing in the seventh inning by a catcher (Patrick Bailey) who had thrown out only two runners in 20 attempts this season. Crawford has not been a threat on the bases; he’s stolen two bags and been nabbed twice. He had an 82 percent stolen-base success rate in the minors. It’s been different in the majors.
A lot has to do with his poor secondary leads.
“Just have to be more precise, making sure I’m picking good times when I go,” Crawford said. “Good counts. And, of course, getting a good jump. But I’m getting more comfortable with it the more and more I go.”
Entering Thursday, Crawford ranked 198th out of 214 players who had attempted a steal in “lead distance gained,” a metric the league’s Statcast system uses to measure the distance from a runner’s primary lead to his secondary one. It basically means he’s getting some of the poorest jumps possible when he tries to run.
How Mattingly manages
Cristopher Sánchez did not hide his disgust when his new manager removed him at 85 pitches with two outs in the seventh inning and no one on base. He handed Mattingly the ball, then shook his head as he walked off the field.
“Of course, I wanted to stay out,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I mean, 85 pitches. I just wanted to finish that one off.”
Mattingly did not mind it.
“That’s one thing about guys being upset,” Mattingly said. “I’m never … doing this long enough, guys are competitive and they want to stay in the game. We felt like it was the right spot, not to let anything get started.”
It was interesting, given the Phillies’ plan to do a bullpen game in the nightcap, that Mattingly would not ride Sánchez longer. The addition of Trevor Richards, a bulk reliever, following Backhus’ injury made it make somewhat more sense. Still, Mattingly has had a tight leash on the two starters he’s managed so far; he removed Jesús Luzardo at 88 pitches in seven scoreless innings Tuesday.