CINCINNATI \u2014 The past couple of days, Don Mattingly has talked about \u201cfresh faces\u201d in regard to the Midsummer Classic.<\/p>\n
Essentially, it\u2019s nice to have youth represented in the All-Star Game. But it\u2019s also nice to go with the \u201cold Mercedes,\u201d alluding to Zack Wheeler being left off, Mattingly said with a chuckle pregame Wednesday.<\/p>\n
But when the Reds and Phillies faced off at Great American Ball Park for the second game of three, it was the fresh faces who took over.<\/p>\n
Advantage, Reds youth, in their 11-5 shellacking of the Phillies.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia faced Chase Burns, the Reds\u2019 second-year hurler who has been electric all season long, routinely lighting up the radar gun to triple digits. The Phillies were familiar with Burns. After facing the 2026 All-Star once last year, the right-hander had them in a chokehold nearly two months ago.<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t the case early. In the second inning with one out, rookie Gabriel Rincones Jr. smashed a 112.7 mph double off the right-center field wall. He\u2019s been sizzling hot lately, batting .444 with four extra-base knocks over his last seven games. Then, on the very next pitch, rookie Justin Crawford laced a ball down the first base line at 105 mph, turning on the burners and heading all the way to third for a run-scoring triple.<\/p>\n
A few deliveries later, Crawford snuck right beneath Burns\u2019 tag after a wild pitch. The Phillies\u2019 center fielder has also been strong lately. Over his last 15 games, he\u2019s batting .340\/.367\/.426.<\/p>\n
With a 2-0 lead, the Phillies looked to tack on more in the third, as Bryson Stott tomahawked a ball right to the top of the right-field wall. But TJ Friedl, the Reds\u2019 center fielder, made an unbelievable grab to save extra bases.<\/p>\n
That fired up the home faithful and the home squad.<\/p>\n
From there, it was all Reds, all the time, as they put on their own version of a home-run hitting contest.<\/p>\n
Alan Rangel, a fresh face to these 2026 Phillies, got the start, his second one of the year as he has filled the fifth-starter role after Andrew Painter\u2019s demotion to Triple-A. The 29-year-old battled command issues Wednesday, firing just 61 percent of his 69 pitches for strikes. Some of the ones in the zone were left over the plate for Reds hitters to punish.<\/p>\n
After a pair of scoreless innings to begin, Rangel surrendered a one-out double to Elly De La Cruz, a changeup up in the zone, and fell behind rookie Sal Stewart 3-0. He ran the count full before locating a four-seamer well, but Stewart extended his arms and drove it into the right-field bullpen for a homer.<\/p>\n
Tie ballgame.<\/p>\n
Another first-time All-Star, Stewart has not slowed down after being one of Minor League Baseball\u2019s best hitters. He basically leads National League rookies in every hitting category, as he paces well for the Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy that can swing it,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cLooks like he has a good idea of the strike zone. He\u2019s not really chasing all over the place. He kind of takes what you give him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then to lead off the fourth, Rangel served an 0-2 changeup at the top of the zone, again, to Noelvi Marte, who left the yard for a solo shot. The Phillies\u2019 righty got Reds catcher Jose Trevino to fly out before Mattingly came out to pull him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about two times through, getting to the bottom there with the lefties,\u201d Mattingly said of their expectations for Rangel. \u201cReally, just looking for three outs, two outs from Tanner [Banks], and obviously that went sideways.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went to Tanner Banks. Rookie Edwin Arroyo then lined a double, and with two outs, the Reds created some post-Fourth of July fireworks.<\/p>\n
De La Cruz homer.<\/p>\n
Stewart homer, his second.<\/p>\n
JJ Bleday homer.<\/p>\n
Banks has had a rough season, one that led to an option to Triple-A earlier this month. His first year and a half in Philadelphia, after being traded from the White Sox at the 2024 deadline, was solid. A 3.24 ERA in 91 games. An opponent\u2019s batting average of .227. He was their most reliable lefty at times. Other times, it was Matt Strahm, whom the Phillies traded in the winter.<\/p>\n
This year, Banks has a 7.14 ERA. He\u2019s allowed seven round-trippers in 28 appearances. Not the clip you want, period, especially out of the bullpen. His slider-sweeper combo, so effective last year, has tailed off dramatically, too.<\/p>\n
Banks said the issue has been too many pitches living in the same area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get guys out when you\u2019re doing the same thing,\u201d Banks said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to beat someone when you\u2019re showing three or four of those things over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly saw missed spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cTanner\u2019s just missing getting the ball where he\u2019s trying to get it to,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cJust missing spots with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
His lefty sidekick Jos\u00e9 Alvarado, who allowed a sixth-inning run, has not been much better, posting a 7.03 ERA. Since ERA became official in 1913, the Phillies have never had two relievers pitch 25-plus games and carry ERAs above 7.00.<\/p>\n
Mattingly made clear that the Phillies have looked under the hood with Alvarado and believe his raw stuff is still strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking at it today, actually,” Mattingly said. “The overall stuff is actually not bad. He\u2019s probably been better than his numbers show, but still, obviously, he\u2019s been inconsistent with giving up runs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado has searched for answers, too. Again, he does not think that his velocity alone surprises hitters anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201c100 mph, I think it\u2019s not surprising anymore,\u201d Alvarado said through club interpreter Diego D’Aniello. \u201cIt\u2019s not an excuse. It\u2019s the way that the game has adjusted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado pointed to the automated ball-strike challenge system as one of the ways pitchers have had to adjust, saying it has forced pitchers to live over the plate more often.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to blame that or say that it\u2019s an excuse,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cBut I haven\u2019t been lucky in that regard this year. The results are not there either.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s best lefty has been Tim Mayza, who owns a 2.81 ERA after originally signing a minor-league deal before breaking camp with the club out of spring training.<\/p>\n
Mattingly did not sugarcoat the state of the left-handed relief group.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t look very good [tonight],\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cMayza\u2019s probably been better than anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Phillies need more from that group. Mattingly said the club may have to be less focused on matching up left-on-left and more focused on using whoever is throwing best.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to look at that,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cNot necessarily trying to match up. Just going with the best guy right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s pretty clear that\u2019s a need at the August 3 trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Aroldis Chapman, anyone?<\/p>\n
The Phillies, as they typically have under Mattingly, showed some fight with a run in the fifth and a J.T. Realmuto solo homer in the sixth. They even sent the tying run, Kyle Schwarber, to the plate in the sixth, but Reds southpaw reliever Brock Burke sat Schwarber down on strikes.<\/p>\n
When the game got out of hand late, the Phillies’ slugger did club his 32nd homer \u2014 the most by a Fightin’ before the All-Star break in franchise history.<\/p>\n
Objectively, the most compelling detail that came out of the night came from the ESPN telecast. Mattingly, speaking with reporter Buster Olney, expressed his interest in returning to the club as manager after this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would do it,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cI committed myself to two years with the Phillies when I came over. So whatever Dave wants to do in that regard \u2026 I think I would like to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly initially joined the Phillies\u2019 staff under Rob Thomson as bench coach. But since the club\u2019s turnaround, his fresh face has helped stir a dramatic turnaround, one that has brought the Phillies within a few games of the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East.<\/p>\n
Alex Cora rumors have continued to stir because of his close relationship with Dave Dombrowski. If the organization were to go in that direction, it is hard to see Mattingly going back to his original role.<\/p>\n
The Phillies will look to win the series Thursday night, as the surging Jes\u00fas Luzardo, one of those new names in the All-Star Game, faces Brady Singer, who sports a 5.03 ERA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 The past couple of days, Don Mattingly has talked about \u201cfresh faces\u201d in regard to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,201779,5865,99],"class_list":["post-752217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-phillies-analysis","tag-phillies-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}