QUEENS, N.Y. \u2014 Francisco Alvarez tagged an Andrew Painter fastball that caught the outer edge up and away.<\/p>\n
The three-run homer put New York ahead 4-3 in the fifth, one half-inning after the Phillies had taken the lead.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia had grabbed the momentum in its eighth-to-last game of the regular season. Painter watched it fly over the wall.<\/p>\n
Before Alvarez even reached home plate, Painter was already back on the rubber, hands held high near his face and eyes locked toward home.<\/p>\n
A frustrating moment for the rookie in the Phillies’ 10-3 loss to the Mets on Saturday at Citi Field.<\/p>\n
His next pitch was his hardest of the night at 99.4 mph, which Ronny Mauricio fouled away. Painter then battled Mauricio for nine pitches before striking him out with a changeup.<\/p>\n
He followed by striking out Francisco Lindor for the second time, then Juan Soto to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Don Mattingly sent Painter back out for the sixth, where he struck out Bo Bichette. With left-handed hitter Carson Benge coming up, Mattingly went to the bullpen.<\/p>\n
On the surface, there was plenty to like. Painter struck out seven and walked one. His four-seam fastball had plenty of life.<\/p>\n
But the issue that has followed him throughout his rookie season showed up again.<\/p>\n
All four runs he allowed came on home runs.<\/p>\n
IN BUNCHES<\/p>\n
When Painter has allowed homers lately, they have tended to come together.<\/p>\n
In the nine starts since his July 31 return to the majors, Painter has allowed six home runs. All six have come across three multi-homer outings.<\/p>\n
Location was the biggest issue early in his season, particularly before his demotion. The pitch to Alvarez was different.<\/p>\n
Painter got the fastball elevated and on the outer part of the plate, but with two runners aboard and a need to throw strikes, Alvarez appeared ready for it.<\/p>\n
Home runs have accounted for 48 percent of the 75 earned runs Painter has allowed this season.<\/p>\n
His 1.48 homers allowed per nine innings ranks 20th-highest among 108 starters with at least 20 starts. Before his demotion, he ranked eighth-highest.<\/p>\n
Solo homers can be survived.<\/p>\n
Three-run shots are much harder to overcome.<\/p>\n
HIS ROLE AHEAD?<\/p>\n
Mattingly said Saturday that Jes\u00fas Luzardo continues to feel better each day, which is encouraging.<\/p>\n
But Luzardo still has not thrown a baseball in more than a week.<\/p>\n
There are several steps ahead before he could return to a major league mound. He first has to resume throwing, progress to mound work and continue building from there.<\/p>\n
With Luzardo looking increasingly unlikely to start early in a potential Wild Card Series, Aaron Nola could be pushed into a possible Game 3 if the Phillies are able to line up their rotation the way they want.<\/p>\n
That leaves an interesting question for Painter.<\/p>\n
He has started throughout this season and essentially his entire career, but his stuff could make him an intriguing option to bridge a game to the later innings.<\/p>\n
Saturday offered another reminder of why the Phillies may need one.<\/p>\n
Brooks Raley allowed two runs in the sixth after replacing Painter, extending the Mets’ lead.<\/p>\n
Phillies relievers working from the fifth through seventh innings this season have combined for a league-worst 5.28 ERA. It is the club’s highest mark in those innings over a full season, excluding 2020, since 2005.<\/p>\n
Painter hasn’t exactly been dominant from the first pitch of every start, either.<\/p>\n
But the routine would be different in relief. His ramp-up would be different. His fastball could play up in shorter bursts.<\/p>\n
And considering how much the Phillies have struggled in the middle innings, the bar isn’t particularly high.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Bowlan’s uncertain status because of his right groin injury only makes the possibility more intriguing.<\/p>\n
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE<\/p>\n
It felt like the Phillies had a chance to take control when they went ahead 3-1 in the fifth.<\/p>\n
Then Alvarez changed the game.<\/p>\n
The Phillies actually went 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position, but still stranded nine.<\/p>\n
A large part of the problem came from the bottom of the lineup.<\/p>\n
Phillies hitters in the seven-through-nine spots entered the night batting .186 in September, the fourth-lowest mark in the majors.<\/p>\n
They haven’t consistently been setting the table for a top of the order that carried the offense for long stretches in August.<\/p>\n
There are only eight games left to find an answer.<\/p>\n
BOHM’S UNIQUE YEAR<\/p>\n
The Phillies got multi-hit games from Trea Turner, Luis Arraez and Alec Bohm.<\/p>\n
Bohm has quietly been one of their steadiest hitters for months, which makes it fair to wonder what his season might have looked like without a forgettable first month-plus.<\/p>\n
He drove in his 85th run Saturday.<\/p>\n
Considering where he started, that’s no small number.<\/p>\n
Mattingly gave Bohm a pair of reset days before his two-homer game on May 9. Since then, his production has looked much more like the hitter the Phillies have known in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
Over a 162-game pace since May 9, Bohm’s numbers translate to a .280 average, 20 home runs, 57 extra-base hits and 102 RBI.<\/p>\n
Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
Bohm recorded at least 50 extra-base hits and 97 RBI in both 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n
His regular season has already undergone a significant recovery.<\/p>\n
If that carries into October, the way his 2026 season is remembered could look much different \u2014 with an interesting offseason still waiting on the other side.<\/p>\n
KERKERING KEEPS STRUGGLING<\/p>\n
The Phillies went back to Orion Kerkering in the eighth, one night after he allowed a three-run homer to Juan Soto.<\/p>\n
There was logic to it. Philadelphia needs Kerkering to get right before the postseason, so why not give him the ball again and a chance to put Friday behind him?<\/p>\n
Saturday only made the question more complicated.<\/p>\n
Kerkering allowed four earned runs in the eighth as the game turned into a rout. He has now surrendered seven runs in two nights and owns a 17.05 ERA over his last seven outings and a 10.80 ERA over his last 15.<\/p>\n
The stuff is still there. The results haven’t been.<\/p>\n
And with October approaching, the Phillies have to decide how many more chances they can afford to give him in high-leverage spots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUEENS, N.Y. \u2014 Francisco Alvarez tagged an Andrew Painter fastball that caught the outer edge up and away.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,107566,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-351412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}