Phillies sweep the meager Pirates to close out the home stand with a very fun big league debut, but receive season-altering bullpen news
After a disappointing series against the Cardinals, the Phillies would look to right the ship against the lowly Pirates. The Phillies would be held largely silent for the first six innings Friday, only scraping through a single run in the fifth, although it was Bryce Harper’s 1,000th career RBI. Fortunately for them, Ranger Sáurez was phenomenal again as he kept the Pirates scoreless for five innings. Ranger did run into some trouble in the sixth as he allowed three runs to cross the plate on an Alexander Canario three-run bomb. That would be his only blemish as Ranger would rally and not only finish up the sixth, but wrap up the seventh as well. With the offense looking dazed and confused and the Pirates holding a two-run lead, though, things seem rather bleak. However, the Pirates reminded everyone that they are in fact the Pirates as the Phillies managed to score four runs on only one hit in the bottom of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead that they would not relinquish. They would add three more runs in the eighth after another Jordan Romano shut-down inning. The ninth would get a little dicey as recent call-up Daniel Robert would struggle to get outs, and the Phillies would once again need to lean on their only true hope from the bullpen, José Alvarado (foreshadowing). He would shut the door for the Phils on an 8-4 victory.
Saturday was Wheeler Day, and the Pirates responded accordingly. The Phillies would be up 5-0 by the fourth, and Zack would cruise to six shutout innings while striking out six. The Pirates could only manage four baserunners as they had no answer for the Phillies’ ace. Bryson Stott would have a day driving in three, including a homerun in the third inning, and the Phillies would get RBI doubles from Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber to round out the scoring. The Phillies would get clean innings from Matt Strahm and Carlos Hernández, and while Tanner Banks would allow two runs in the ninth, it would be futile as the Phillies closed the door on a 5-2 victory.
Sunday would start with a bang in the worst way imaginable, as it came out that Phillies relief star José Alvarado would need to serve an 80-game suspension for PEDs that will keep him out of the playoffs as well. A beyond devastating blow to hear as the Phillies would have to prepare to face the dominant Paul Skenes. The Phillies would have no answer for Skenes as he would torpedo the Phillies, striking them out nine times and only allowing four baserunners through a complete game. The only run the Phillies managed came with runners on first and third when Brandon Marsh was somehow able to leg out a double play to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. While Skenes would shine, someone else would match him pitch for pitch, Mick Abel. Making his big league debut, Abel was nothing short of fantastic. Six shutout innings, no walks, five hits, and nine strikeouts. The right-handed former top prospect has been on quite the roller coaster the last few years, but a dominant start in Lehigh this year gave him this shot against one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the kid didn’t blink. A now depleted bullpen would get shutdown innings from Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm to get to the ninth with a 1-0 lead. Jordan Romano would again get the ball in the ninth and again look spectacular as he would strike out the side and land the Phillies a 1-0 victory and a series sweep.
On the positive, the Phillies rounded out the sweep and survived Paul Skenes in the process. Mick Abel also looked brilliant, and if he can become what scouts once thought he could be, this rotation might reach comical levels of dominance. The Phillies are 10 games over .500 for the first time this year and are only .5 games behind the Mets for the NL East lead (same number of losses) and would be the number one wildcard if things ended today. However, the loss of José Alvarado for most of the rest of this year is crippling, but the even bigger kicker is the loss of Alvarado in the Playoffs. The Phillies’ bullpen was unstable already, and the loss of the one anchor this group had might prove to have championship-denying implications. Dave Dombrowski will need to act and do so rather swiftly if he desires an attempt to save this season. Even with the resurgence of Jordan Romano, this team is beyond lacking pen depth at the moment. The Phillies will need at least one true stud, if not two pen additions, before the deadline to steady the ship for a loss like this, which will require real prospects to leave the system. It is a difficult spot to be in. The offense is good enough, and the starting pitching is remarkable, but this pen will prevent a title. Additions need to be made, or the group that is here needs to dramatically improve, even more so than they have from April to May. Maybe the resurging Mick Abel will help land this team a piece that they need later this summer? Either way, the Phillies look to continue to beat up on some bad teams as they head west to face the Rockies and A’s this week.