PHOENIX – It all came to a head when Phillies manager Rob Thomson made eye contact with his catcher and waved his hand. JT Realmuto was forced to retire in the eighth inning, but that was an impossible task because the whole thing had collapsed under the pressure of compounding errors. The three-run lead was gone. One of the most successful closers in baseball history stood helpless on the mound.
This was the time for a change on Friday night, because by that point the Phillies had relinquished control of this National League Championship Series.
Thomson gave Caleb Cotham, his pitching coach, a nudge and told him to call out to the bullpen again and check on José Alvarado. He was ready for a left-on-left duel against Arizona’s best hitter, Corbin Carroll. Realmuto was exhausted every second of the hill visit. Craig Kimbrel looked toward the dugout. Thomson didn’t move from his seat.
“Really,” Thomson said later after a devastating 5-6 loss to the Diamondbacks in Game 4, “we’re trying not to use Alvarado when we absolutely could stay away from him.”
But every decision before that — starting Cristopher Sánchez on a 20-day rest, adding two pitchers to the NLCS roster that the Phillies don’t want to use, asking multiple setup relievers to pitch more than one inning — meant that Thomson All-in was game 4. He had to win a game by firing every ball he had. The Phillies had identified Alvarado vs. Carroll as a favorable pairing before this NLCS. Their best against Arizona’s best.
Thomson was aggressive with his pitching changes at every turn until he allowed Kimbrel to face Carroll. Perhaps the game’s fate was already sealed. Maybe not. Kimbrel hit Carroll with a 95 mph first pitch fastball. The eventual winning run moved them into the points. Now Alvarado came into play and fired the starting shot on his fifth pitch.
No one was safe from the torment.
“We have to play better baseball,” Thomson said, “and that’s all.”
José Alvarado stands on the mound as Diamondbacks fans celebrate their team’s rally in the eighth inning. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Not long after the game ended, Thomson sat at his desk. The room was quiet. Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, and general manager Sam Fuld joined him to analyze the missteps. The Brain Trust meets after most Phillies games — good and bad — but this time there was too much to digest. This series is tied two games apiece and there are real questions about where the Phillies go from here.
“The game is over,” Nick Castellanos said, “but now it’s a best-of-three series and we have home advantage.”
This is the optimist’s view. The counterpart: The Phillies had pitching advantages in Games 3 and 4 and couldn’t capitalize on them. They have a deeper bullpen than Arizona, but lost a Game 4 in which the Diamondbacks used eight pitchers. They have a Kimbrel problem and have used four substitutes who have played on consecutive days, with the third game in three days being played on Saturday evening.
The Diamondbacks are taxed the same way. Their top four relievers started in Games 3 and 4. Zack Wheeler and Zac Gallen will have longer runways in Game 5. Whichever ace pitches better could decide the entire series.
But neither will finish a full game; No pitcher has done that in a postseason game in six years.
“As a starter,” Wheeler said Friday afternoon, “I think your goal every time is to play a complete game without any runs being scored. “I think that’s the goal every time. But realistically, bullpens these days are probably a little better than they used to be, so teams are taking advantage of that.”
Now the Phillies have no choice. Wheeler has to take the ball and carry his team. Wheeler was great in the postseason despite fading late in all three games. He didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning. He has allowed six runs (five earned) in the sixth and seventh innings of his starts.
It is unclear who Thomson can turn to in the later innings. It probably won’t be Kimbrel. “We need to talk about it, but put him in a slightly lower leverage position?” Thomson said. “I don’t know. I’ll talk to Caleb … and see where we’re at.” Orion Kerkering, the rookie reliever brought into Thomson’s familiar circle, was unable to throw strikes one night after hanging too many sliders .He had never pitched on back-to-back days before Friday and is unlikely to be in the mix for Game 5.
Orion Kerkering (center) walked two batters in a row in the seventh, including a bases-loaded walk that cut the Phillies’ lead to 5-3. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today)
Alvarado threw two innings in Game 3 but only needed 15 pitches. He threw six pitches in Game 4. Can he pitch in Game 5? “Please,” Alvarado said. “Please.” Jeff Hoffman cut his right thumb during his strong effort to calm the situation early in the fourth game, but said he was fine after the athletic training team stopped the bleeding. He never pitched on three consecutive days.
Seranthony Domínguez recorded four outs on 23 pitches. Matt Strahm threw 19 pitches for three outs. They should all be in play.
“We’re certainly not going to put people in danger,” Thomson said, “but this is a tough group and they want to play.”
None of the manager’s decisions matter when so many of his replacements can’t throw strikes. Gregory Soto, Kerkering, Kimbrel and Alvarado threw first-pitch strikes to just four of the 14 batters they faced. The Phillies struck out 15 batters in their first eight games this postseason. They walked nine batters in two games here at Chase Field.
“I thought a lot of our pitchers looked quicker to me,” Realmuto said. “That’s what happens when you fall behind in the count and let baserunners keep going. The place is getting loud. You start to feel the crowd and the atmosphere. It’s the same thing our crowd does to opposing pitchers when they’re in our house. The best way to not go too fast is to not let people get on base.”
That was the danger that was always lurking. The Phillies are betting on big things in their bullpen, and when they are in the strike zone, they are difficult to hit. But mastery of this stuff is sometimes fleeting.
“That’s the difference between the last two games and the first two games,” Realmuto said of the NLCS, which started with two wins at Citizens Bank Park. “In the first two (games) we were 0-2, 1-2, and now it’s 3-1, 2-0. This is how you turn good batsmen into great batsmen. We’ve been doing this the last two nights. We just fall back too much and don’t attack the strike zone.”
Rob Thomson removed Gregory Soto in the seventh round. The Phillies used eight pitchers in Game 4. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today)
Greater responsibility fell to the high-leverage relievers when the Phillies decided that neither Taijuan Walker nor Michael Lorenzen would play in Game 4 unless it was for extra innings. (Lorenzen, relegated to mop-up duty, would have batted in the ninth if the Phillies had tied or taken the lead; no one else was available.) Walker was erratic in a simulated game earlier this week, so the Phillies decided to to use Sánchez. The left-hander exited after 2 1/3 innings. He had no transition, no feel, and the longer time between appearances may have had an impact on that.
The Phillies functionally have an 11-man pitching staff because Walker and Lorenzen are not trusted. Did they handcuff them? “Well, these two guys are really the longer ones,” Thomson said. “That’s how I see it. And Taijuan is really ready for extra innings if we need them or early in the game if we fall behind or have a big lead. And it’s the same with Lorenzen.” Maybe one of them will have to get into a difficult situation in Game 5. Maybe not.
It’s possible the Phillies could send Ranger Suárez to the bullpen to fill a role he held last postseason. “We’ll see,” Suárez said. There would have to be a specific situation to use him, as a substitute appearance in Game 5 could hurt his chances of starting in a possible Game 7.
Right now, the Phillies are just worried about slowing Arizona’s momentum. Realmuto had made so many mound visits that when Kimbrel came in, the team was concerned about their retention. “I couldn’t really go out there much,” Realmuto said. “It’s kind of his fault at this point.” Kimbrel drowned for the second time in two nights.
And now the wounds are deep.
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(Top photo of Craig Kimbrel, JT Realmuto and other Phillies players during a mound visit in the eighth inning: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)