NEW YORK — Sometimes, following a tough outing for a Phillies reliever, interim manager Don Mattingly tries to throw them right back into the fire.
The idea is to help them flush their last appearance and turn the page quickly. And when the Phillies went down three runs to the Mets in the eighth inning on Saturday night, it seemed like a spot that would be soft enough for Orion Kerkering.
The bottom half of New York’s order was due up. Mattingly didn’t want to burn any more high-leverage arms. And perhaps a clean inning would help the right-hander rebuild some confidence after giving up a back-breaking three-run home run to Juan Soto the night before.
But instead, things spiraled even further. The Mets tagged Kerkering for four runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch to put the game out of reach for a 10-3 Phillies loss. And concern for Kerkering, whose ERA in September is an eye-popping 18.69, has never been higher.
“I’d say a pretty high degree of worry about him,” Mattingly said.
Kerkering was unable to keep the game within striking distance for the Phillies offense, which mustered exactly three runs for the fifth consecutive game. Kerkering, who had once been viewed as a potential option as setup man for closer Jhoan Duran, no longer has a clear role on the staff.
“You have to be able to use him there, in a game like that,” Mattingly said. “I’m not going to try to chase a three-run deficit in that inning. It’s hard to find places to use him.”
Kerkering doesn’t appear to have much confidence in his sweeper, usually his most-used and most-effective pitch. He only threw 10 sweepers out of 36 total pitches for a 28% usage rate. Kerkering got A.J. Ewing looking on it for a called strikeout, but Mets hitters didn’t whiff once on the pitch.
Overall, his command wasn’t there. Kerkering only threw 13 pitches in the strike zone, and many of his misses were by a wide margin.
It was another deflating loss for a Phillies offense that had plenty of opportunity early to pile on. They came through with five hits with runners in scoring position, but those only translated to three runs. In total, they left 10 men on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.
The Phillies often got hits at the right time, but not always to the right spot. Luis Arraez came up twice with Trea Turner on second and delivered a single to left field. But both times, the ball was hit right to Soto, forcing Turner to hold up at third instead of scoring on the play.
“We had some balls today, I felt like a number of them,” Mattingly said. “If Luis’s balls aren’t right at Soto, where they’re playing, if that makes him go one way or the other, you’re going to score there.”
The top five in the Phillies’ order — Kyle Schwarber, Turner, Bryce Harper, Arraez, and Alec Bohm — accounted for eight of their nine total hits.
Andrew Painter, starting opposite his former high school teammate Christian Scott, was strong for the first four innings. But things unraveled quickly in the fifth. A four-pitch leadoff walk to Marcus Semien and a Brett Baty single came back to bite him when Francisco Alvarez hit a three-run homer to the opposite field.
It came on a fastball that just dotted the outside edge of the zone, which Painter wanted just a little more in, knowing that’s where Alvarez does a lot of his damage.
“I think the main thing is looking back on the four-pitch walk to lead off the inning, and kind of seeing a spiral there,” Painter said. “Leave a pitch over the middle for a base knock, and then that’s where the damage gets done.”
The Phillies, trailing by 4-3, were still in it in the sixth. But their first bullpen implosion of the night worsened matters. After Painter secured the first out of the inning, striking out Bo Bichette, Brooks Raley entered to face a pocket of Mets left-handers.
Twenty-two pitches later, Raley departed again without securing an out. Two walks and two singles allowed New York to add to their lead and left the bases loaded for Chase Shugart. It didn’t help that Justin Crawford initially misread the single from Baty and took a roundabout route to the line drive, allowing it to short-hop into his glove rather than making an out.
Like Kerkering, Raley has struggled significantly in the second half. When the Phillies acquired him from the Mets at the trade deadline, the left-hander had a 1.96 ERA. But since then, he has an 8.71 ERA. Hitters are averaging .333 against Raley in 10 ⅓ innings pitched after arriving in Philadelphia.
“He just doesn’t seem to be able to get the lefties on the sweeper, the one that kind of ends up off the plate,” Mattingly said. “If you don’t swing at that, then you got to get the one that stays on the plate. You’re seeing better swings off that. … Just haven’t been able to get those guys out.”
When Shugart took over, he got a quick pop-up for the overdue second out, but then issued a bases-loaded walk to nine-hole hitter Ronny Mauricio to force in another run.
Every Phillies pitcher walked at least one batter, for a total of eight free passes given to the Mets. With the deficit now at seven, Turner drew a walk in the ninth but Harper popped out and Arraez grounded out to end it.
“We haven’t been able to to keep the game in check,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, we’re disappointed to give up runs. We’re disappointed. But I think that’s been a little bit of a trouble spot, is basically just keeping the game in check.”
