sent to the Triple A to find the life and location on his fastball<\/a>. The Phils aren\u2019t sure who will take his spot in the rotation Tuesday night in Washington. Meanwhile, it was Nola\u2019s turn to take the ball Thursday night. He wasn\u2019t bad, but he wasn\u2019t particularly sharp, either. Overall, his stuff was up. That was a good thing.\u00a0He hit 95 mph on the gun. But the right-hander ran a high pitch count (97) and lasted just five innings. He gave up seven hits. Juan Soto took him deep in the first and third innings. Nola finally walked the slugger in the fifth.<\/p>\nSoto\u2019s homer in the first inning came on a 1-2 cutter with two outs after Nola had gotten ahead 0-2 but couldn\u2019t put Soto away. He then allowed a single and an RBI double on a ball that right fielder Brandon Marsh tracked poorly.<\/p>\n
It was a 3-3 game entering the top of the seventh when Alvarado was tagged for three two-out runs. He allowed a leadoff single to Carson Benge before a two-out stolen base, a wild pitch and a single by pinch hitter Eric Wagaman gave the Mets the lead. Before Alvarado could get out of the inning, Marcus Semien survived a two-strike foul tip that J.T. Realmuto almost hung on to and tripled home two runs to give the Mets a three-run lead.<\/p>\n
Alvarado, the Phils\u2019 top lefty setup man, has allowed four runs in his last two outings. In addition to his high ERA, he has allowed 35 hits in 26 innings and opponents are batting .315 against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball is coming out good,\u201d manager Don Mattingly. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the velo is down. He just has to put it in good spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado\u2019s fastball topped out at 99.6 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy I\u2019m throwing strikes,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m in the strike zone more than I used to be. But hitters are confident they can hit against me. They see a lot of 100 mph pitches at this level. It\u2019s not surprising anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bullpen is already without right-handed setup man Brad Keller, who is out with elbow inflammation. He isn\u2019t expected to be out long, but he\u2019s also been inconsistent in his first year with the club. Bullpen could be an eventual trade deadline item for Dombrowski. On the plus side, right-hander Seth Johnson came up from Triple A on Thursday and looked good. He pitched a perfect sixth inning and struck out two with triple-digit stuff. With limited trade chips, it would be huge for the Phillies if someone from within the system, like Johnson, could step up and help fill a need.<\/p>\n
As for starting pitching, Painter\u2019s struggles and his yet unfilled rotation spot, as well as Nola\u2019s inconsistency, have prompted Dombrowski to seek help at the back end of the rotation. It\u2019s not easy to find.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost clubs that I talk to don\u2019t have starting pitching depth,\u201d he said before the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dombrowski chose to focus on the positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got four that match up with most in baseball and we think (Painter) will be back and help us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Those four are Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, Jesus Luzardo and Nola.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough for us to top our top three at this point and if Nola throws like he\u2019s capable of throwing,\u201d Dombrowski said.<\/p>\n
The Phillies are 27-13 when the top three that Dombrowski mentioned \u2013 Sanchez, Wheeler and Luzardo \u2013 start. They are 13-22 when anybody else starts.<\/p>\n
Nola hasn\u2019t made it past the fifth inning in his last four starts — he’s done it just once in his last eight — and has a season ERA of 5.71. The bullpen has been taxed the last two days but it will receive a break Friday as the three-game series against the Mets takes a break to accommodate a World Cup game at Lincoln Financial Field. When the series resumes Saturday, the Phillies will send Sanchez to the mound. Wheeler goes on Sunday.<\/p>\n
One day after stroking three hits, Trea Turner was hit on the right calf by a pitch from Mets starter Sean Manaea in the first inning. He ended up leaving the game in the third inning with what was called a contusion. Afterward, Turner said he believed he\u2019d be good to go Saturday night.<\/p>\n
The Phillies turned Turner\u2019s plunking into their first run when Alec Bohm smacked a two-run single. The Phils missed a chance to put more runs on the board when they wasted a leadoff triple from Edmundo Sosa in the second. Bohm doubled home a run with two outs in the third and newcomer Derek Hill tied the game with a single in the fourth before Alvarado let it get away in the seventh. The Phils rallied for a run in the ninth and brought Kyle Schwarber, the potential winning, to the plate with two outs. Schwarber hit it hard but right at right fielder Brett Baty. Game over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bohm is up to 41 RBIs, one more than Bryce Harper, and two less than Schwarber, the team leader.<\/p>\n
It took until mid-June and Game 75 of the season for the Phillies to see the Mets. Maybe the weekend will go a little better for the local nine.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies have flaws. That\u2019s no secret. The last two games have exposed a couple of them. Andrew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,259266,82],"class_list":["post-746726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}