Orion Kerkering has allowed seven runs in the last two days. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)
NEW YORK — The Phillies are sounding the alarm on Orion Kerkering.
Kerkering, pitching on back-to-back days, allowed four runs in the eighth inning in a lopsided 10-3 loss to the New York Mets on Saturday. Kerkering is far from the Phillies’ lone pitching problem, but the recent results are hard to ignore.
The Phillies agree. They optioned Kerkering to Triple-A following the game, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. Kerkering was tapped on the shoulder by a Phillies coach in the visiting clubhouse at Citi Field postgame. He met with interim manager Don Mattingly for a few minutes, who delivered the news.
It’s the first time in his career he has been optioned to the minor leagues. It’s a testament to Kerkering’s consistency over his four seasons with the club and the Phillies’ belief in the 25-year-old reliever. But now is the time for a reset.
Mattingly went to Kerkering with the Phillies down by three runs in the eighth. He did not want to use Alex McFarlane or Jhoan Duran with the Phillies trailing by multiple runs. The only other available reliever in the bullpen, Tim Mayza, pitched on back-to-back days. He was warming up by the end of the inning.
Kerkering began the inning allowing a single to Marcus Semien and a walk to Brett Baty. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. The No. 9 batter, Ronny Mauricio, was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the top of the order. He walked Francisco Lindor on four pitches, and the Mets kept the line moving with three straight singles. Kerkering caught a bad break on the last hit, as Carson Benge reached on a swinging bunt up the third-base line. Bryson Stott waited for it to go foul.
Nothing was going Kerkering’s way. What’s Mattingly’s level of concern?
“Pretty high degree of worry about him,” Mattingly said.
A typically laid back Mattingly voiced some frustration after the game.
“You have to be able to use him there,” Mattingly said. “In a game like that. Not going to try to chase a three-run deficit in that inning. Yeah, it’s hard to find places to use him.”
Kerkering, who says his recent bout with turf toe is not to blame for his struggles, is far from the Phillies’ only problem on the pitching side.
The biggest concern is the health of Jesús Luzardo. The Phillies will know more about his status for the postseason in the coming days. He has not yet resumed throwing. Mattingly and Luzardo are both projecting optimism.
“(Luzardo is) smiling a little bit more, so that tells you he is feeling better,” Mattingly said.
The pitching depth with the postseason a little over a week away is dangerously thin. A day after a planned bullpen day, the Phillies essentially had to run another one with Andrew Painter going only 5 1/3 innings.
Brooks Raley, the Phillies’ lone healthy pitching acquisition at the trade deadline, has been a disaster. The seldomly used left-hander gave up two runs in relief of Painter against his former team. He has an 8.71 ERA in just 10 1/3 innings pitched.
Outside of McFarlane, the Phillies don’t have a trusted arm to come out of the bullpen with runners on. With José Alvarado having much better numbers against righties than lefties this year, they also don’t have a true left-hander to match up against the opposing team’s best left-handed hitter late in games.
Jonathan Bowlan, after suffering a “mild” groin strain in the series opener against New York, will presumably be unavailable out of the bullpen for at least a few days. The Phillies are holding off placing him on the injured list for now. Putting him on the IL would rule him out for the wild card series.
Kerkering’s struggles, the need for a fresh arm to get through Sunday (presuming the game is played due to rain), and his status as a pitcher with minor league options, necessitated the need to make a call. A corresponding move has not yet been announced. The IronPigs’ season ends on Sunday.
Nestor Cortes is presumably not an option to be added to the roster right away. He pitched three innings for Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Kyle Backhus and Grant Holman, two other pitchers on the 40-man roster, also pitched Saturday and are not yet eligible to be recalled. Max Lazar is the most likely candidate to be added to the big league roster.
