ST. LOUIS — Rob Thomson noted last weekend that to get where they want to go in 2023, the Phillies need Seranthony Dominguez as one of their best right-handers, the version of him that dominated in October a year ago.
Dominguez pitched well on Tuesday against the Braves and on Friday in St. Louis, but allowed a go-ahead or game-winning home run on Sunday for the third time in his last five games. Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker took him deep with two outs and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a game the Phillies lost 6-5.
“It wasn’t one of Ser’s best sinkers,” catcher JT Realmuto said. “To try again, maybe we could have gone somewhere else. Obviously he was ready for a fastball there. The boy is a good batsman, he made a good swing. It’s just a shame it happened there.”
Dominguez had a 1.57 ERA in mid-September a year ago. In the playoffs, he posted a 1.69 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 10⅔ innings. This season didn’t go so smoothly. He blew seven saves with five losses and hasn’t gotten as much finish on his pitches as usual since mid-August, with swinging strike rates on his fastball and slider dropping significantly.
That wasn’t the case Friday, as he hit the first batter he faced before giving up three straight strikeouts, two of them on strikeouts.
“I think his stuff has gotten better,” Realmuto said. “Definitely his slider, his last outing was the best I’ve seen in a few months. That was encouraging to see.”
The Phillies didn’t trail in their wins on Friday or Saturday, recovering from an early three-run deficit and a late two-run deficit on Sunday. They took advantage of the Cardinals’ sloppy infield defense to score three times early in the fourth. Nick Castellanos tied the game with an RBI single in the eighth inning, an inning that began with Alec Bohm’s 17th home run of the season.
The Phils had another chance to tie or take the lead in the ninth inning when Bohm walked and Bryson Stott singled with one out. Realmuto struck out on three shots and Johan Rojas flew out to end the game.
Realmuto went 0-for-8 on Saturday and Sunday and is in another slump, going 4-for-32 in his last eight games without an extra-base hit or walk. He hit just .190 among runners in scoring position after hitting .279 the previous two years.
“If I had the answer, I would probably fix it,” he said. “Maybe in situations like this I try to do too much and expand the zone a little. I don’t really have an answer to that.”
“I just haven’t been able to find the groove for a long period of time like I usually do. I struggled back and forth and didn’t really get going. Batting is just a matter of mentality and confidence.” As much as anything else, and I haven’t been able to find my confidence for a long period of time this year. Confidence comes from taking hits and throwing the ball in the air. Even though I was good at the plate, I had a lot of tough outs.”
How about when he saw the ball best during the Phillies’ road trip to Arizona and Oakland in mid-June, when Realmuto hit for the cycle, hitting a home run three times in four games? What clicked?
“I had good throws and couldn’t miss anything,” he said. “Right now, when things aren’t going well, it seems like the pitchers are hitting their spot, and if they tend to miss one or two at bat, I tend to foul it. Right now that’s not the case. “When I take advantage of those mistakes, I usually foul them or just miss them and then they make bad throws to get me out of there. I just need to be able to not miss those throws and be prepared when they do leave it over the middle of the plate.
Realmuto, like Rhys Hoskins, has a leg kick in his swing. When he goes south, this is often cited by others as the reason for his problems. But Realmuto has maintained that the leg kick isn’t the cause of his inconsistency this season – it’s more about plate selection and lack of hittable throws.
“It never is. This is a media thing,” Realmuto said. “When I’m at my best, my leg kick is usually at its highest. My leg swing changes from punch to punch, from swing to swing. For me it’s more of a rhythm thing. That is not the problem. I. “You just have to be more consistent and run to the ball more often.”
The Phillies also need more consistency from Taijuan Walker heading into the playoffs. Walker went seven innings Sunday but allowed five runs — three in the third, two in the fifth.
He was mostly touched up by St. Louis’ two future Hall of Famers, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Goldschmidt hit a two-run double in the third inning, a solo home run in the fifth and narrowly missed a bomb to left in his first at-bat. Arenado doubled in a run in the third and singled in the fifth.
Walker retired the last eight batters he faced after Arenado’s RBI single as Thomson pushed him through seven innings to preserve as many key bullpen pieces as possible for the upcoming series in Atlanta.
However, the damage was already done. Walker’s last good start – at least six innings, no more than three earned runs – came on July 31. Since then, he has a 5.85 ERA in seven starts. The Phillies are 20-9 in games played, but have lost back-to-back games for the first time since the first two weeks of the season.
He had better control against the Cardinals, walking only one batter in his final 26 innings after issuing 16 free passes.
“I felt better today,” he said. “That was the game plan: JT should sit in the middle and try to attack the zone as much as possible.”
“The numbers don’t look good, five runs, but I felt like I pitched better than it looks and I felt like I got a lot of groundballs today and attacked the zone. That’s what I wanted.”
Walker has 15 wins and excelled with a 2.58 ERA in 11 starts in June and July, but it’s unclear whether he would even suit up for the Phillies in the wild-card round. Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez all throw the ball more effectively, and Thomson still believes in Aaron Nola as a great pitcher despite Nola’s own struggles in September.
“We still have to get there first, we still have to finish strong,” Walker said. “But we have so many weapons and so many good starters that can go out and perform well for us, and whoever doesn’t can probably perform well for us in the bullpen.”
Despite Sunday’s loss, the Phillies won the series, edging the Cardinals 5-1 on the season and holding a three-game lead in the first wild-card spot over the Cubs, who play Sunday night. The Phils also have the tiebreaker over the Cubs, meaning a de facto four-game lead.
Next up is a three-game series in Atlanta. The Braves were defeated in Miami over the weekend after winning the NL East in Philadelphia on Wednesday. MVP front-runner Ronald Acuña Jr. has missed consecutive games with a calf strain and his status for the series opener will be determined after a practice on Monday.
“We played pretty well most of the time, and we came back today,” Thomson said of the series in St. Louis. “In the fourth game we had a few lucky breaks but at least we responded. They took the lead three times and we responded. You took the lead, we responded. We’ll just keep moving forward.”