PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are missing a left-handed reliever for the foreseeable future after Jose Alvarado was placed on the restricted list on Monday.
For manager Rob Thomson, the loss of an influential left-hander means a performance boost for everyone – and with a surprising twist.
Thomson on Tuesday called Orion Kerkering the second-best option against lefties behind Matt Strahm. Until Alvarado returns, Strahm will be scheduled to face an opponent’s top left-handed hitters. But a combination of Kerkering, left-hander Tanner Banks and Jeff Hoffman will be part of the equation.
“The way I see it is that Kerkering is also kind of a left-hander because he has good splits against left-handers,” Thomson said. “So in my opinion we still have three left-handers in the bullpen. Banks will take on a little bit of a bigger role.”
Thomson has shown a clear pattern of using the bullpen in the postseason — and in postseason-like games, like this streak of 13 straight wins against likely playoff qualifiers — Whether Brad Hand supplemented Alvarado and Ranger Suarez in 2022 or Gregory Soto replaced Strahm and Alvarado last year, Thomson likes options.
Getting Banks off the White Sox in a timely manner and sending Soto to Baltimore was crucial to maintaining balance. Until Alvarado returns, Thomson may have to do some freelance work.
Kerkering’s sample size is small. In the minor leagues, left-handers hit .129 against him last year and right-handers hit .239. The splits have normalized this year, with left-handers hitting .266 and right-handers hitting .208. His two home runs in 2024 and 10 of his 13 walks have been allowed to left-handers.
Hoffman’s splits against lefties look modest only because righties can’t hit him. Lefties have a batting average of .228 with three home runs, compared to .171 for righties.
The Phillies have struggled with left-handed hitters this year and rank 21st in baseball with an ERA of 4.41 and 18th in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) with 4.34.
Thomson said he had no timetable for when Alvarado would be back, but he expected him to return. The club said he left to attend to a “personal matter.”
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What got lost in Monday night’s heroics between Johan Rojas’ 10th-inning pike catch and Bryce Harper’s walk-off hit was Strahm’s performance.
With the ghost runner on second base, Strahm got Alex Bregman to strikeout, Yordan Alvarez to groundout to first base, and Yainer Diaz to hit the liner caught by Rojas.
In his year and a half as a Phillie, Strahm has not allowed a single base hit in 5.2 innings of overtime. He has allowed three runs to the inherited runner in six innings, with three walks (one intentional) and five strikeouts. He is 2-1 with one save in five appearances.
“He’s one of our better guys. We have to get in and get out of dirty innings, and this is kind of a dirty inning,” Thomson said. “He gets a lot of swing-and-miss balls, he gets a lot of fly balls. I think he’s good at that spot just because he gets a lot of swing-and-miss balls and the pressure doesn’t affect him.”
Strahm suffered a loss against San Francisco on May 28, when two fly balls resulted in a walk-off run, but he was on the right side of the record far more often.
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If the Phillies want to get where they want to go, they need Austin Hays. And if he wants to be a regular on the roster, a .205 batting average against right-handers isn’t going to cut it.
However, a double at the beginning of the third inning and the trigger for a four-run rally on Tuesday against Justin Verlander would be more likely.
“He’s just losing the ball a little bit,” Thomson diagnosed. “He just needs to stay a little more right-centre.”
Hays, who has battled injuries, entered the game this year with a .205 batting average, three home runs and 11 RBIs in 132 at-bats against right-handers. Against left-handers, his batting average is .333.
Compare that to his 2023 All-Star season, when he posted a .280 batting average against right-handers. His double, 311 feet in the air and 103.0 mph off the bat, was to left.
NOTES >> Taijuan Walker (3-5, 6.26 ERA) will start Wednesday’s finale against the Astros’ Spencer Arrighetti (6-11, 4.94). It tips off at 4:05. Walker has struggled mightily of late. Thomson has backed the veteran right-hander, saying his bullpen during the week was “one of his better bullpens of late,” according to pitching coach Caleb Cotham. … Dreams that David Buchanan would replace him in the rotation ended for another reason when the Phillies traded the 35-year-old to Cincinnati, according to The Athletic. Buchanan was 9-3 with a 4.82 ERA in 22 games (16 starts) in Lehigh Valley. He started 35 times for the Phillies in 2014 and 2015 before playing nearly a decade in Japan and South Korea.
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