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Tag: Trea Turner

  • ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Kevin Stocker on the infield shuffle, why Trea Turner isn’t an outfielder, and more

    ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Kevin Stocker on the infield shuffle, why Trea Turner isn’t an outfielder, and more

    In trading for Luis Arráez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield with less than 50 games left in the season.

    It was unprecedented.

    Kevin Stocker, the Phillies’ pennant-winning shortstop in 1993 and now a member of the radio broadcast team, joined The Inquirer’s Phillies Extra podcast, to share his thoughts on all the moving parts — Bryson Stott to third base, Alec Bohm to first, and Bryce Harper to right field — as well as the one player who stayed put: shortstop Trea Turner.

    Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

    Q: What was your reaction when you heard the Phillies were trading for Luis Arráez, and that they were going to uproot three-quarters of the infield with less than 50 games left in the season?

    A: I was happy because it was Luis Arráez. I like the kind of player that he is offensively, and very confused, I guess, onto the limitations he kind of put on if he was only going to play second. I got so many feelings about uprooting three guys in the middle of the season. It’s not like it’s new. We’ve seen this before with other guys. I think the most recent maybe Mookie Betts has moved. I remember back in the day, Robin Yount moved out to center because of an injury, but never three guys at once. So I guess if we were to take each spot as it is, for example, Bryson Stott having to move from second to third. I don’t think it’s going to affect Bryson as much, other than the fact … the middle infield, shortstop, and second base are your main spots that handle most of the baseballs. To me, Bryson Stott is probably the best fielder, definitely on this team. I know he’s not an All-Star. … He’s the captain of the infield, and now you’re moving him out of there. That was my first concern.

    … He’s constantly directing traffic, calling timeout. He’s helping the pitcher. You’re going to lose some of that by bumping him over to third base. However, defensively, I think he’ll be fine. He’s played that side of the infield, super strong arm. I don’t worry about him over there at all.

    Now you bump Bohm over to first. Now I think Alec has done tremendous things at third as far as making strides. He’s worked his tail off. He’s become pretty comfortable. I wouldn’t say he’s the best third baseman, anything like that. But he’s solid over there. At first base, to me, he’s got a lot to learn. I love the fact that he’s 6-5. If I was a shortstop throwing over there, I would want the tall first baseman. Fred McGriff was over there for me, and I loved that. So it’s going to take him a little while, I think, to kind of get better at first base.

    So that is a little bit interesting to me. It’s going to take him a while. I’m not sure how that’s going to go. I will say that in the same breath, I love that Harper’s going back to right field. … and here’s why. One, he’s a hitter first. When he’s on that field, he’s thinking about hitting. When he goes to first base to play defense, he’s still thinking about hitting. I’ve played with a lot of guys in my career, and all the hitters were the same. The guys in the outfield, I would look out in left field, and I might see a guy out there who’s a hitter, and he’s in between pitches. He’s working on a swing, and I’m like, ‘Hey, man, we got to play defense.’

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    The infield demands so much focus all the time, and at first base, Bryce was good. He’s very athletic, but I think there was a lot of balls over there that he wasn’t comfortable maybe helping Trea out or helping the infielders out. Not that he was bad. I don’t know that he’s having the greatest year this year, but a couple years ago he was fine. I just think in right field to me, he will be a better hitter, better player, and happier. That’s just me. I haven’t seen him play a lot of right field, and I also think it takes care of the right field problem that the Phillies had. So you get Luis Arraez and people are like, ‘Why didn’t we go get a right fielder?’ Well, the Phillies did. They bumped Bryce out there and now they have one.

    Trea Turner’s 18 errors are second in baseball only to the Nationals’ CJ Abrams (19) going into Monday’s games.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
    Q: What’s your take on leaving Trea Turner at shortstop and moving everyone else around?

    A: I never saw Trea play outfield. I saw him play a little bit at second base. That was with the Dodgers for a short period of time, and I don’t think he was comfortable over there. But a lot of people want Trea to go to the outfield. So this is what I would say with that in the outfield. I’ve watched Trea long enough to know now that he is not the most aggressive player defensively. And what I mean by that is, for example, if he’s going back on a popup over his head, it’s pretty ginger when he goes back there. Whereas Bryson Stott just goes … running back. Trea doesn’t play that way. He’s a little bit more cautious.

    Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

    So now everybody wants him to go to center. You do not want a cautious center fielder. That’ll totally mess up the corners. Now you got [Brandon] Marsh, and you got Harp over here. I’ve talked to [infield coach] Bobby [Dickerson] about this a lot. He’s worked so hard at shortstop. He’s not having that great year that he had last year, a much better year. I just don’t know if he’s better anywhere else on the field. And if you asked me to disrupt three guys, Turner would be the last one I would want to disrupt right now because that would just create a lot more problems in his head. And he’s starting to hit.

    The other thing about Trea, he is just like Harper. He is a hitter first, defense second. When I played, I was defense all the way. I think Stott is defense first, and then kind of mixes in the offense. So as a hitter-first guy, you’re going to get some years that are good. You’re going to get some years that he struggles, and it’s been a challenge there. But I just don’t think it would have been a wise move for me to move him. I just think that would have created more problems in his head.

    Kevin Stocker, seen here sliding into third base past the Expos’ Doug Strange for a triple in 1997, played five seasons with the Phillies.George Widman / AP
    Q: How was shortstop different for you when you were 24, 25, vs. when you were 30? How does it get harder as you get a little older?

    A: Well, there’s a couple of things. The most direct thing that gets tougher, whether you’re 30 or 33, you start to, I don’t want to say lose a step, but I needed to go out and take ground balls at full speed on Sunday morning when I did not want anything to do with that. I didn’t want to go take ground balls or BP. When I was younger, I was so jazzed. I was like, ‘I’m going to go to the park, and I would go get Bowa and say, ‘Let’s go take ground balls.’ … As you get older, you start to lose that edge. You start having to go out. … you’re just not getting in the same work, and so then what happens is you’re not quite playing … I call it playing on the edge. That’s where you want to be. So that’s one thing.

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    And then you just don’t recover as quickly. You just don’t. Like that dive [Turner] had the other day, it was very jarring. When you lay out and you land on your chest, it is a huge jarring. … that stuff gets tougher to recover from the next day. You’re rolling out of bed, like I got hit by a truck. So the amount of work — that’s why I admire Edmundo Sosa, who has all these positions. He’s out there every day. He has to in order to keep the legs and the body moving.

    But I do remember that last year. I think I was even in camp with the Rockies. It was right before I retired, and I went out and played a little bit of shortstop. And I’m like, I’m not moving as fast as the other guy that’s 25, 26 to my left and right. So that’s one of the things I think is just keeping the edge to go out there and make sure you get the right amount of work in. I really admire the fact that Trea, at his age at 33, and the amount of time he’s played, hasn’t really lost a step. I don’t think he has. Sprinting and running. I think he’s guarded as times, like he’s not running full speed all the time, but I don’t know if he has to.

  • Aaron Nola has an injury scare in Phillies’ 7-5 loss to Blue Jays in extras

    Aaron Nola has an injury scare in Phillies’ 7-5 loss to Blue Jays in extras

    Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer have battled over the years.

    Saturday night marked the seventh time the two pitchers have faced head-to-head. Scherzer, 42, has been limited this year with Toronto due to injuries, and entered the game with a 7.92 ERA. He’s on a one-year deal; it’s fair to wonder if their seventh meeting could also be their last.

    It was fitting in Saturday’s 7-5 extra-innings Phillies loss that they each made history. The game was momentarily paused in the second inning to celebrate the Phillies right-hander after he struck out Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela looking on a sinker.

    Phillies taking caution with Bryce Harper’s move to the outfield; Alec Bohm has preplanned day off

    Nola’s third strikeout of the game was the 2,000th of his career, making him the 94th pitcher in baseball history to reach the milestone. He accomplished it in his 308th start, the 10th-fastest ever.

    “It’s funny I’m pitching against Scherzer,” Nola said. “I’ve got a long way to catch up with him.”

    Not to be outdone, Scherzer’s called strikeout of Kyle Schwarber in the sixth inning was his 3,516th career strikeout, which moved him into 10th all-time in MLB history.

    “It’s a challenge, for sure. He’s pitched a long time, and he’s still so good,” Nola said of facing Scherzer. “We’ve seen him so much, and it’s so good to watch him go out there. He’s a ultimate competitor, and obviously he’s a Hall of Famer, no doubt.”

    Nola didn’t leave the game on a high note, however. He was removed in the sixth inning with a bruised right knee after Jesús Sánchez hit him with a 104.8 mph comebacker. X-rays were negative, and he said afterward he felt fine and expects to make his next start.

    The Phillies had plenty of opportunities to back Nola’s milestone with a win. But Nathan Lukes’ two-out, two-run homer in the 11th proved to be the fatal blow.

    “We just got to find ways to finish it off,” Trea Turner said. “I feel like it’s not always one thing to point at. We can do all things better, but it feels like late in games where we could break it open and put it away, I feel like we’re not doing that. So just keep working and try to figure that part out.”

    Nola exited at 97 pitches, and was nearing the end of his outing. He had allowed two runs on six hits and had struck out eight. The Phillies were trailing, 2-0, after failing to provide him any run support.

    Luis Arraez’s biggest strength made him a logical cleanup hitter for Don Mattingly. And it’s worked.

    It’s been a struggle for Nola this year. But over his last three starts, he has a 3.24 ERA. Home runs continue to be an issue, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took him deep in the first inning. When Nola can limit the homers to solo shots, though, he gives his team a fighting chance.

    But the first two times through the order, the Phillies offense was making Scherzer look like his vintage self. For five innings, he held them off the scoreboard while they mustered just three singles.

    “He looked really good tonight,” Turner said. “Velo was there. I felt like his command was really good. He made it tough on us for a while, and then we got to him a little late. But he looked pretty sharp.”

    The third time through the order was different. Back-to-back homers from Turner and Bryce Harper, both off sliders, brought the crowd right back into it and abruptly ended Scherzer’s night in the sixth inning. And when Blue Jays reliever Spencer Miles took the mound, hits became contagious.

    Luis Arraez singled, advanced to third on a Bryson Stott double, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Marsh, dodging the tag at the plate.

    Justin Crawford celebrates after hitting a sixth inning RBI triple.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Then, Justin Crawford came inches away from homering into the Phillies’ bullpen in center field. It bounced off the wall instead, and Crawford settled for an RBI triple after flying around the bases to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

    In the eighth inning, José Alvarado coughed it up. His command was erratic — at times completely wild — and he had walked two batters but was on the verge of escaping the inning. Free-swinging Andrés Giménez fell behind 0-2 chasing two pitches outside of the zone.

    But Alvarado left a sinker right down the middle for Giménez to punch a game-tying two-run double to center.

    “Anytime your guys out of the pen walk guys, that makes you uncomfortable, especially late in the game,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Because it usually causes traffic, and the game has a better chance of spiraling on you.”

    Mattingly called on Brooks Raley, Jonathan Bowlan, and Jhoan Duran to pitch an inning each in relief. Orion Kerkering took over from Alvarado in the eighth and faced one batter. With the bullpen stretched thin over the past week, that left Chase Shugart for extra innings.

    Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

    With the ghost runner on second, Shugart walked Davis Schneider on five pitches in the 10th inning. He induced a soft grounder from Ernie Clement to first, but a mental lapse from Alec Bohm — who had entered as a defensive replacement for Schwarber when the Phillies were leading — at first base allowed him to reach. Bohm hesitated before tossing the ball to Shugart, and Clement beat out the throw.

    “It looked a little bit indecisive,” Mattingly said. “I looked at it quickly, and I would say that’s part of it. Just not playing over there enough.”

    Mattingly stood firm postgame in his decision to bring Bohm in at first over Schwarber in the eighth due to his superior infield experience. The Phillies were leading by two, and Mattingly was betting on Schwarber’s spot in the lineup not coming up again. After Toronto tied the game, Bohm flew out in the bottom of the ninth and was on deck during the final out in the 11th.

    Phillies pitcher Chase Shugart covers his face after giving-up a two-run homer in the 11th inning.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    “You don’t really want it to come up. Trying to win in nine, honestly, trying to make sure the game doesn’t go past nine,” Mattingly said. “So you can always play it safe. Maybe if you don’t make a play over there, then you’re going to kick yourself for not defending. It’s going to go either way.”

    Bohm’s play on the grounder from Clement was scored a hit, which loaded the bases for Giménez. He then drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. The Phillies tied it again in the bottom of the 10th on their own sacrifice fly, but couldn’t push across the go-ahead run.

    Shugart had Lukes down to two strikes in the 11th before he left a sweeper belt-high for the Toronto right fielder. Lukes sent it 395 feet into the seats.

    The Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the inning, sealing the series loss.

  • Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

    Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

    On the first day of the rest of their season, Alec Bohm practiced picking throws out of the dirt at first base; Bryson Stott worked on cutoffs and relays at third; Bryce Harper ran down fly balls in the outfield.

    And Trea Turner? He was right there at shortstop.

    Just like always.

    For Luis Arraez, the best available hitter in an extreme seller’s trade market, the Phillies finally took Harper up on his standing offer to move back to the outfield and displaced three-fourths of their infield.

    Low on prospect capital, loaded with needs, the Phillies’ best asset at the deadline turned out to be … Bryce Harper

    Creative, right? But the one infielder who didn’t switch positions happens to be among the worst defenders in the sport this season, based on both the eye test and metrics.

    Was there discussion of moving Turner off shortstop?

    “Zero,” interim manager Don Mattingly said.

    “There was not,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “Not at this point, no.”

    OK, let’s dispel a myth/social media fabrication: Turner didn’t decline to switch positions. The Phillies never asked him to. Not after Harper set all of this in motion by raising his hand to go to the outfield.

    Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (left) works with second baseman Luis Arraez, his new double-play partner, before a game this week.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    None of these moves are permanent. Harper will return to first base next season; Stott will go back to the middle infield; Bohm is a pending free agent. This is a 49-game experiment to add a three-time batting champion to the middle of a lineup that needed more sizzle.

    Arraez brings sizzle, spice, and a knack for forcing the action with his uncanny ability to put the ball in play. Team officials think that will outweigh eight weeks of possibly weakening a defense that wasn’t steady in the first place.

    When the Phillies move Turner, they want it to be for good.

    In time, they will move him. Turner turned 33 in June and is under contract for seven more years. The conversation about vacating shortstop will come … eventually. Maybe even after this season.

    But Turner hasn’t played the outfield in 10 years, since a 45-game cameo as a rookie with the Nationals in 2016. He played 49 games at second base after getting traded to the Dodgers in 2021. Otherwise, it has been shortstop.

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    For now, the Phillies are focused on helping Turner get better — or at least closer to last season, when he played the best defense of his career en route to a fifth-place finish in the National League MVP race.

    “Trea’s won a World Series as a shortstop [with the Nationals in 2019]; he’s won a division back-to-back years; he’s played a high level of shortstop last year; he’s still athletic,” infield coach Bobby Dickerson said on The Inquirer’s Phillies Extra podcast. “All those things I don’t see diminishing. He can stay at shortstop.

    “How does it happen? He’s got to put a chip on his shoulders and say, ‘The way to quiet everybody is to make plays, to do my job and do it right and do it good. I always talk about shortstop as the quarterback position. Out on the field, quarterbacking is a person that calms everything down instead of creating more chaos. We’ve got to get back to leading as a shortstop — make plays, play it calm, let everybody breathe. That’s the only way he stays there.

    “My job is to help him stay there. I’ll feel like I failed if we don’t get this done. I’ve seen him play it. And until he’s moved, he’s our shortstop, and we’re going to get after it every day and get it done.”

    Turner entered the weekend with 18 errors, second-most behind Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams. He ranked last among shortstops in defensive runs saved (minus-11), according to Sports Info Solutions, and third-to-last in Statcast’s fielding run value (minus-8).

    In four games out of the All-Star break, he made four errors. He had six in 17 games through Wednesday. The past week has been better, with diving plays to his left to take hits from Jake Rogers last Friday night in Baltimore and the Nationals’ Jorbit Vivas and Daylen Lile at home Tuesday and Wednesday.

    It’s also not coincidental that Turner’s downturn in the field began amid early-season struggles at the plate. Although he has turned it around over the last six weeks, he was hitting .216 with a .595 OPS on June 15.

    “The offense at the beginning of the year was probably in his head a little bit,” Phillies radio analyst and former shortstop Kevin Stocker said on Phillies Extra. “He struggled out of the gate offensively, which has always carried him, and sometimes when you take that out to the field, you’re still kind of thinking about it … and then the routine play eats you up.

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    “It’s a classic case of kind of getting the yips. You don’t know whether to charge the ball, whether to go back on a ball, and that is the worst when you get that as an infielder. It’s incredibly difficult to get out of that.

    “The other night, he made an amazing play going to his left. The angle plays, you don’t have time to think about it, [and] you make it. It’s that routine play. … What the Phillies need is Trea needs to make the routine play. The great plays are great, but if you don’t get the routine out and you give an extra out to the bullpen that has been struggling, it’s trouble.”

    But in uprooting three infielders, the Phillies left Turner alone.

    For now.

    “We didn’t even discuss it with him at this point,” Dombrowski said. “He’s done it before and he works hard at it. He’s our shortstop, and that’s where he’s staying right now.”

    Phillies top prospect Gage Wood has been a starter this season at double-A Reading.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    Gauging Wood

    Fire up the flux capacitor, and time travel to Oct. 4, 2025.

    It’s Game 1 of the division series. The Phillies lead, 3-2, in the seventh inning at home against the Dodgers. David Robertson gives up a leadoff single and hits a batter before Matt Strahm allows a three-run homer. The Phillies lose, 5-3.

    Now, travel to Oct. 5, 2024. It’s Game 1 of the division series. The Phillies lead, 1-0, in the eighth inning at home against the Mets. Jeff Hoffman gives up a leadoff single, a walk, and an RBI single before Strahm allows the go-ahead single, a sacrifice fly, and another single. Orion Kerkering enters and yields an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. The Phillies lose, 6-2.

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    The point is, the bullpen is the source of Phillies playoff disappointments dating to Craig Kimbrel’s meltdowns in Games 3 and 4 of the 2023 NLCS in Arizona. They have Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning now, but getting to him could still be problematic even after the deadline additions of Caleb Kilian and veteran lefty Brooks Raley.

    At present, the starter-to-Duran bridge consists of Jonathan Bowlan, José Alvarado, Kerkering, Tim Mayza, Kilian and Raley.

    Maybe it will be enough. History says it won’t.

    So, hard-throwing Alex McFarlane likely will get another look after retiring Shohei Ohtani in his major league debut July 22. Since then, he gave up one hit and two walks in three scoreless outings in triple A.

    Rival scouts wonder if the Phillies will push top prospect Gage Wood to the big leagues as a reliever. Wood, who has a 4.32 ERA in 11 starts in double A, pitched out of the bullpen as a freshman in college at Arkansas.

    “Would I consider it?” Dombrowski said. “We have not discussed that at all at this point.”

    Key words: “At this point.”

    The Phillies are monitoring Wood’s innings — 68 and counting — with no plans to shut him down before the end of the minor-league season.

    “He’s a good prospect and we really like him,” Dombrowski said. “But we haven’t talked even talked about that.”

    Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t trade for a starting pitcher at the deadline.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

    False start

    A partial list of starting pitchers who got traded before the deadline: Tarik Skubal, Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, Robbie Ray, Casey Mize, Freddy Peralta, Luis Castillo, Foster Griffin, Dustin May, Tyler Mahle, José Soriano, Spencer Arrighetti, Jameson Taillon, Kris Bubic, Braxton Garrett, Dean Kremer, and Connelly Early.

    The Phillies got none of them.

    OK, so they weren’t trading for Skubal. And given the lack of top-end talent in the farm system, Dombrowski conceded the Phillies were unable to beat the returns for some starters. The Cubs (Gausman and Holmes) and Padres (Ray and Mize) were especially aggressive with their prospect packages.

    But Dombrowski also said the Phillies discussed, then dismissed pitchers whom they didn’t view as upgrades over rookie Andrew Painter.

    “The choice came in, do you end up getting a guy that’s a fifth starter that you don’t think is as good as your guy that you have now and option the guy that you think has a better chance to win to help your depth, or do what we’re doing?” Dombrowski said. “And we figured we’d do what we were doing and help our bullpen.”

    It’s riskier than the infield realignment. Much riskier.

    Unlike the Cubs and Padres, the Phillies didn’t need to trade for pitchers who could start postseason games for them. Not as long as Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesús Luzardo are lined up. But they still have to get to the postseason, which is more difficult with a 5-23 record from the fifth-starter spot.

    The Reds held Brady Singer, even though the return likely didn’t have had to be much greater than the value of the compensatory draft pick they will get if they give him a qualifying offer. Adding someone like Singer to slot behind Aaron Nola, with Painter in reserve, would’ve helped, a point that was reinforced Wednesday when Painter tweaked his left hamstring and exited after four innings.

    Painter is expected to make his next start, Mattingly said, but surely, the Phillies were holding their breath. They won’t exhale much over the next seven weeks.

    “I always worry after you get past the trade deadline,” Dombrowski said. “I worry about our depth everywhere if you have injuries.”

    But the state of the rotation feels like an especially dangerous game.

  • Derek Hill and Andrew Painter suffer injuries in Phillies’ 10-4 loss to Nationals in 11 innings

    Derek Hill and Andrew Painter suffer injuries in Phillies’ 10-4 loss to Nationals in 11 innings

    Derek Hill has made several spectacular catches in the two months he’s roamed the outfield for the Phillies.

    He robbed Juan Soto of a homer in June, made a highlight-reel dive in Detroit in July, and earlier this series snagged a ball while tumbling to the ground. When Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams hit a laser to center field in the 11th inning on Wednesday, Hill made another all-out effort. But this time, he couldn’t come up with it and crashed into the fence.

    Hill remained on the ground at first, but was eventually helped to his feet and walked off under his own power.

    Andrew Painter exits his start vs. Nationals with left hamstring tightness

    Interim manager Don Mattingly called it a bruised shoulder, but added the Phillies were evaluating “everything” for the center fielder, including a potential head injury. Hill was not made available to media postgame.

    “You hit a wall like that, it’s not too forgiving,” Mattingly said. “I think, give it a chance to evaluate overnight, see what happens, how it comes in tomorrow.”

    What unraveled into a six-run 11th inning sealed the Phillies’ 10-4 loss to Washington, but most pressing for the club is the status of Hill and starter Andrew Painter, who exited the game after four innings with tightness in his left hamstring. Both will be reevaluated Thursday.

    Painter grimaced after falling off the mound during his delivery of a 3-2 pitch to Daylen Lile in the first. He initially remained in the game, with the Phillies checking on him after each inning. When he reported that his hamstring began to tighten up after the fourth inning, the staff decided to pull him.

    Andrew Painter lasted just 63 pitches through four innings before being pulled with a left hamstring tightness.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Painter said he has never had a hamstring injury before, but he was not concerned that it will turn into something serious.

    “I’m not too worried about it,” Painter said. “I felt like I could have gone out there and still competed. They felt like they didn’t want to risk that, so that’s why we made that decision.”

    With their lack of starting pitching depth, the Phillies cannot afford an injury to Painter. They did not add rotation help at Monday’s trade deadline, with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski citing Painter’s encouraging outing against the Orioles as one reason why.

    “Really, the choice came: Do you end up getting a guy that’s a fifth starter that you don’t think is as good as your guy that you have now, and option the guy that you think is a better chance to win to help your depth, or do what we’re doing?” Dombrowski said Monday. “And we figured we do what we are doing.”

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    While Painter worked on his fastball in Lehigh Valley, the Phillies relied on Alan Rangel and a patchwork of bullpen games to cover the No. 5 spot in the order. It did not work. They have lost 13 consecutive games started by that rotation spot, a streak that includes Painter’s struggles before he was optioned on June 17.

    Before Painter left the game, he threw just 63 pitches. He appeared to improve as the game went on. After giving up a run in the first on a hit batter and two singles, Painter held the Nationals off the scoreboard for the next three innings. He sidestepped a walk and another single, while striking out four. He tossed a 1-2-3 fourth inning, using just nine pitches.

    “The changeup was really good. Something we’ve been building on,” Painter said. “Got some good swing and miss there. I feel like the command of it is getting better and better each time I go out there.”

    With Painter’s outing cut short, the bullpen had to cover the next 21 outs as the back-and-forth game marched into extras. Tim Mayza, Orion Kerkering, and Jonathan Bowlan each delivered a scoreless inning.

    Newly-acquired reliever Brooks Raley coughed up a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. He surrendered a 404-foot homer to Brady House, followed by a double and a single to left field that scored another.

    Luis Arraez (left) celebrates a second inning home run with Alec Bohm.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    The Phillies punched back. Cleanup hitter Luis Arraez had launched his fifth homer of the year in the second inning, but outside of that the Phillies generated most of their offense from the bottom half of the order. In the seventh, Alec Bohm worked a leadoff walk, advanced on a single from Brandon Marsh, and tied the game at 3-3 on Bryson Stott’s RBI single.

    They had the chance to add more, loading the bases against Nationals reliever Tom Cosgrove, but Trea Turner flew out to right field to end the rally.

    Closer Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless ninth inning to give his team the chance to walk it off. When they came up short, José Alvarado entered for the 10th. After getting the first two outs, he completely lost the strike zone. He threw seven consecutive balls as he walked Andrés Chaparro and then Nasim Nuñez, forcing in a run as the Nationals took a 4-3 lead.

    In the bottom of the inning, Turner hit a sacrifice fly to right field that Dylan Crews made a diving catch on, scoring Hill from third to tie the game once more. The Phillies put the winning run aboard when Bryce Harper drew a four-pitch walk.

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    With Arraez at the plate, the Phillies called for Harper to steal second, and he was thrown out to end the inning.

    Mattingly said the reasoning behind the decision was to get Harper into scoring position for Arraez. Even with the possibility of the Nationals countering by intentionally walking Arraez, Mattingly said he felt comfortable with Bohm coming up to the plate in that situation.

    “It’s still going to be a situation where we’re at Bohm and he’s going to need to get a hit,” Mattingly said. “We take a shot there, knowing that Luis is going to be there the next inning and he’ll lead off.”

    By the time Arraez was back in the batter’s box, though, the game was already out of hand. Caleb Kilian had entered for the 11th and walked nine-hole hitter Jacob Young. That brought up Abrams, who drove in two runs with his triple to center.

    Derek Hill is escorted by the Phillies’ training staff after crashing into the wall in the 11th.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Nationals manager Blake Butera had emptied his bench, and without further options, he called on pitcher Miles Mikolas to pinch-hit next. He laid down a bunt that scored Abrams.

    “I think the biggest the thing that hurt us the most there is really the guy walking, and then it puts Abrams in a spot where he gets to hit, we knew the pitcher was behind him,” Mattingly said. “They were out of players, so if we can get him out there, Abrams basically doesn’t swing the bat. But when you once you walk him, that’s the biggest problem there.”

    By the time the Phillies secured the third out, Chase Shugart had replaced Kilian and the Nationals had scored six total runs in the frame. The Phillies’ offense went down in order to end it.

  • Despite defensive miscues, Trea Turner’s 200th career homer helps Phillies power past Dodgers

    Despite defensive miscues, Trea Turner’s 200th career homer helps Phillies power past Dodgers

    Afterward, Trea Turner could only laugh.

    So could his teammates. As the stadium lights flashed and the bell tolled, signaling another Phillies win — this time, 10-7 over the Dodgers — the infield convened on the dirt.

    The same dirt where Turner had just made four different miscues defensively, and the same dirt Turner had trotted across, twice, after each of his homers on Monday. As the Phillies celebrated their victory, they couldn’t help but tease their shortstop for his Jekyll and Hyde performance.

    “Ridiculous game, in general, by me,” Turner said. “You do things like that, or have games like that, sometimes you just got to laugh about it. And they gave me a hard time.”

    The ridiculousness started in the first inning, when Turner botched a routine grounder — first bobbling it, then pulling Bryce Harper off the bag with his throw — to record his 15th error of the year. The boos rained down as he squandered a chance to get Cristopher Sánchez out of an early jam, and instead helped the Dodgers load the bases.

    Trea Turner has homered four times in the last four games.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    But after successfully fielding the next grounder hit in his direction to end it without damage, Turner got the crowd back on his side after sending Emmet Sheehan’s first pitch to left-center for a double.

    “Obviously, Trea swung the bat really well,” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “He didn’t catch it as well.”

    And that was only the beginning of the roller coaster ride. Turner launched a two-run shot in the second inning to help build the Phillies’ early lead, but he also continued to struggle on defense.

    In the fourth inning, Alex Call grounded a ball to left that went underneath Turner’s glove. In the sixth, a chopper from Andy Pages bounced off his glove and a run scored. And in the ninth, a hard-hit grounder from Tommy Edman deflected off his knee.

    All three were ruled singles by the official scorer, but were plays Turner could have made.

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    “Everyone talks about rhythm at the plate, but I think there’s rhythm on the base paths, rhythm defensively,” Turner said. “Sometimes you feel good, sometimes you don’t, and you just got to find that flow again.”

    He couldn’t pinpoint what was going wrong Monday or this season in general, but said that poor reads were part of the problem. Turner’s 15 errors have already well surpassed his full-season marker of eight in 2025. His defensive runs saved (-10) is dead last among qualified shortstops this year, but Mattingly still has confidence in him.

    “I trust Trea, honestly,” Mattingly said. “I trust all our guys, and Trea’s going to make some great plays. There’s going to be errors with everybody. Trea works. He’s out there every day, working on ground balls. He’s working on his hands, all that type of stuff. So as long as Trea works, we ride with Trea.”

    Turner has committed three errors in the last four games. He has also homered four times in the last four games.

    This time, his error cost Sánchez a few pitches in the first. The Phillies lefty scattered seven hits and struck out seven. Four of those came on his slider, which he leaned on more than usual over 5 ⅓ innings.

    Sánchez retired Shohei Ohtani three times.

    “Looks like it had good depth of that slider tonight,” Mattingly said. “I’m sure part of the game plan is to not chase that changeup down. … It’s just a tough lineup to get through from the standpoint of just going to the changeup. Everybody knows he’s got a good changeup. We’ve seen teams try to take it away; they’re probably better at it than most.”

    Sánchez was lifted after reaching 99 pitches, leaving two on base for Orion Kerkering in the sixth. Both inherited runners wound up scoring, bringing Sánchez’s total to three earned runs.

    Pinch-hitting Max Muncy won a seven-pitch battle against Kerkering with a double that drove in one. Kerkering bounced back by striking out Dalton Rushing, and then intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases.

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    Pages, who hit the bases-loaded grounder to Kerkering that eliminated the Phillies from the 2025 National League Division Series, stepped into the batter’s box instead. His chopper to Turner could have ended it there, but another run scored to bring the Dodgers within one.

    But once again, Turner found redemption immediately on offense. He hooked his second homer of the night, and 200th of his career, just inside the left field foul pole in the bottom of the inning.

    “That’s how it goes in the game of baseball,” Sánchez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “You’ll fail, sometimes you miss, but you just try to pick yourself up and be better and do things like that.”

    Turner wasn’t the only Phillies player to have a big game. Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit an RBI double in the second inning, and he also made some key plays in right field. Brandon Marsh, Harper, and Derek Hill, who each had cooled off somewhat after the All-Star break, hit solo homers that gave the Phillies some needed insurance.

    Bryce Harper hit his 200th homer in a Phillies uniform on Monday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Chase Shugart had a six-run cushion for the ninth, but the Dodgers made things interesting quickly. Pages drew a leadoff walk and Edman’s grounder that deflected off of Turner’s leg put runners on the corners. An RBI groundout scored a run, and then Mookie Betts delivered his second homer of the game to bring the Dodgers within three.

    Not willing to take any more chances, even with two outs and the bases empty, Mattingly brought in closer Jhoan Duran.

    “I’m not going to let it get away and take another chance that it goes further and then puts him in a spot where he can’t make a mistake,” Mattingly said.

    Duran needed three pitches to retire Teoscar Hernández with a groundout, fielded by — who else? — Turner.

    And with the victory officially secured, then the laughter began. The shortstop left the ballpark Monday night with a souvenir ball to remember his 200th career home run, and the wacky game it happened in.

    “If you can’t laugh at yourself,” Turner said, “then you’re kind of kind of done for.”

  • Trea Turner’s post All-Star break reset shows results in Phillies’ 6-1 win over the Mets

    Trea Turner’s post All-Star break reset shows results in Phillies’ 6-1 win over the Mets

    On his way home for the All-Star break last Sunday, Trea Turner spent some time pondering his season so far.

    It has been a disappointment for the Phillies shortstop overall, on both sides of the ball. He was especially frustrated with his performance on the team’s last road trip before the break, where he felt like he was making the contact he wanted but the results weren’t following.

    “Looking up expected numbers, and have the guys tell me what it looks like, and I’m getting half the production that I should be getting,” Turner said. “That’s just frustrating.”

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    After winning the National League batting title in 2025, Turner entered the break with a subpar .236 average. He spent the plane ride mulling it over, and then tried to turn his brain off for the next three days he spent with his family.

    Perhaps the reset did him some good at the plate. Turner’s 414-foot homer in the fifth inning of Saturday’s 6-1 win over the Mets was his second home run in as many games after the break. He also picked up two singles for a three-hit, three-run day.

    “Obviously, he’s hit a couple balls out of the ballpark, but he’s kind of controlled the zone a little better, where he’s getting the ball in the strike zone,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.

    There is room for improvement defensively, though. In the second inning, Turner botched a routine ground ball for his 14th error of the season. It also happened to be his second error in as many games after the break, after a misplay during Thursday’s series opener.

    Turner committed just eight errors last season. He did extra drills with infield coach Bobby Dickerson ahead of Saturday’s game as he tries to recapture the improvements he made in the field last year.

    “I just want to, I think, read the ball a little better,” Turner said. “I feel like physically, I feel good. I feel like I’m making moves that I want to make. It’s the last few mistakes I’ve made has just been judgment on a hop I think I’m going to get, and then the second or third hop’s not exactly what I envision, and I just put myself in a bad spot.”

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    Saturday’s error did not wind up biting the Phillies much, as starter Jesús Luzardo struck out the next two batters to end the inning. Along with the back-to-back walks he issued in the first inning, though, it did cost Luzardo some pitches and he was lifted at 90 after the fifth.

    A solo homer from Tyrone Taylor was just one of two hits the Mets managed against Luzardo, as he struck out seven. Juan Soto, one of the most disciplined hitters in the game with just a 12.7% strikeout rate, accounted for two of those.

    The first time, Luzardo got Soto to chase his signature sweeper low and away in the third inning. The second time, in the fifth, he stunned Soto with a left-on-left changeup. Luzardo and Soto, who briefly coincided earlier in their careers in the Nationals minor league system, both smiled as they walked off the field.

    Jesús Luzardo allowed just two hits and one run in five innings on Saturday.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    “Hadn’t struck him out in a couple years, I think, so that was nice,” Luzardo said. “But finding any way to get him out is always a pleasant surprise.”

    The Phillies capitalized on a sloppy Mets team that committed three errors on Saturday, but the win was a positive sign for their bats overall. They racked up 12 hits in a game that was delayed for just over 45 minutes due to heavy rain during the bottom of the seventh.

    Kyle Schwarber gave the Phillies some breathing room with a towering 399-foot two-run blast in the first inning. And after Turner’s homer in the fifth, they continued to tack on. Schwarber drew a walk and advanced from first to third when catcher Francisco Alvarez’s pickoff attempt sailed high and wide. He then scored easily when Alec Bohm punched a single to left field.

    A single from Edmundo Sosa and a J.T. Realmuto walk kept the line moving, but the rally ended when Derek Hill struck out to strand the bases loaded.

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    “Had a couple innings there that type of innings that make you nervous,“ Mattingly said. ”Leadoff double, we don’t score. First and third, we don’t score. You look at those and you feel like sometimes they’re going to come back to haunt you. Today it didn’t. Obviously, we were able to keep pushing.”

    The Phillies loaded the bases again in the sixth inning, and this time they capitalized. Bryson Stott tripled and Turner and Schwarber drew back-to-back walks against Mets right-hander Kodai Senga to put three on for Bryce Harper.

    He got hold of Senga’s signature forkball for a two-run single that gave the Phillies’ bullpen a comfortable cushion.

    Not that they needed much. Orion Kerkering had pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, striking out Carson Benge with a 97.8 mph fastball. José Alvarado sidestepped an infield single for a scoreless seventh, and Chase Shugart retired six consecutive Mets in the eighth and ninth to seal it.

    Bryce Harper (right) delivered a two-run single in the sixth inning.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Following the rain delay in the bottom of the seventh, Turner picked up his third hit of the day on an infield single against Mets reliever Xzavion Curry.

    “Once you get some of those infield singles and hits to fall, you start having stuff to build on,” Turner said. “I feel like early on, I didn’t have anything to build on. I feel like in the last 30, 40 games if I have something wrong, I can fix it real quick, and hit the ball the other way or whatever it may be, and make the adjustments faster. And that’s the way I am.”

  • Amid wildfire smoke, Phillies’ bats are stifled in 4-1 loss to Mets in the first game after the All-Star break

    Amid wildfire smoke, Phillies’ bats are stifled in 4-1 loss to Mets in the first game after the All-Star break

    After coming up for air from the All-Star break one day sooner than usual, the Phillies played through smoke-filled air that only worsened Thursday night.

    It didn’t bother Aaron Nola.

    His teammates? Put it this way: Although the Phillies didn’t cite the campfire that hung over Citizens Bank Park as an excuse, the only thing more suffocating was the blanket flung over their bats by a handful of Mets pitchers in a 4-1 loss to open the season’s symbolic, if not mathematical second half.

    “The weather was a bit different tonight, but it played no part in the final result,” Brandon Marsh said. “We just didn’t play as good as we should have, you know? Yeah, we’ve just got to be better.”

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    For the fifth consecutive season, the Phillies lost the first game after the All-Star break. This year, they managed four hits, with only Trea Turner’s two-out homer in the eighth inning keeping them from getting shut out for the eighth time.

    Nola weaved in and out of trouble and allowed one run through six innings. But when interim manager Don Mattingly sent him back out for the seventh, at 90 pitches and against the bottom of the Mets’ order, he gave up back-to-back homers to Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez.

    Trea Turner watches his solo homer in the eighth inning, which was the Phillies’ only run of the night.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    It was the reverse of Nola’s last start on July 10, when Mattingly pulled the veteran righty after five innings and 84 pitches in a 2-2 game. Lefty reliever Tim Mayza gave up five runs in the sixth, and the Phillies lost.

    “So, I take him out too early, leave him in too long,” Mattingly said, smiling, but also claiming that his quick hook with Nola last time didn’t factor into his decision-making. “Honestly, you really take each game for what it is. If he would have struggled in the sixth, then I would have been more proactive. But he threw the ball so good in the sixth … I felt good about him right there.”

    It marked Nola’s third consecutive solid start, a positive development for the back end of the rotation on a day when the bullpen lost setup man Brad Keller for the season with a torn elbow ligament.

    The Phillies and Mets had their All-Star break shortened by one day when ESPN chose them in the offseason for a standalone national broadcast. The rest of the sport returns from the break Friday, as usual.

    And a few minutes before 4 p.m., the teams were told the start of the game would be moved up to 6:10 p.m. — one hour earlier than scheduled — because the air quality was expected to worsen after sunset.

    The forecast proved correct. When the game started, the air quality index was at 157, according to airnow.gov, categorized as “unhealthy.” It rose to 166 by 8 p.m., with the Center City skyline no longer visible from South Philly. By 9 p.m., it was 192.

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    “It’s not ideal,” Nola said. “But it is what it is. Can’t really do anything about it. It’s one of those days where it was smoky. But I mean, it’s an outdoor stadium. You’ve got to get the game in and play through different conditions.”

    Marsh said home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna, also the crew chief, repeatedly asked players throughout the game if they didn’t feel well or if the conditions were disruptive in the game.

    “Yeah, multiple times they were checking with us, asking us players — which was cool to see — if we were good to go, and obviously we were all ready to go,“ Marsh said. ”That was good by them. I wasn’t expecting that, but that was good.”

    Mattingly said there was discussion earlier in the day about whether the game should be played. But based on forecasting, league and team officials were confident they could get it in, albeit earlier than expected.

    Phillies logistics team member Erik Lowell takes a photo of the smoke filled air over the baseball field after the Phillies’ loss on Thursday night.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    But the Phillies and Mets altered their pregame routines in other ways. Neither team took batting practice on the field and spent “as little time as possible on the field,” Mattingly said.

    “Just doing what you absolutely feel like you have to do after being gone for three days,” he added. “Not trying to absorb a bunch of energy when you’re getting heated.”

    The Phillies were muted by Mets starter Christian Scott and four relievers. They had one hit through three innings and failed to capitalize on Bryce Harper’s one-out double in the fourth and a two-out double by Kyle Schwarber that missed being a homer by inches in the sixth.

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    Nola, meanwhile, continued to have success by leaning on his signature curveball and changeups to left-handed hitters. Fifty-nine of his 97 pitches were off-speed compared to only 19 four-seam fastballs and 15 sinkers.

    In his last three starts, Nola has given up eight runs in 18 innings to leave his ERA at 5.68.

    “Stuff feels pretty good,” he said. “Solo home runs is hurting me, but other than that, body and stuff is pretty good. Overall, I feel like I’m getting ahead in the counts and getting earlier outs and going a little bit deeper in the games.”

    The Phillies could take a measure of consolation in that, maybe when the smoke clears.

  • Trea Turner’s hot bat sets the tone vs. Pirates ace Paul Skenes in Phillies’ 10-6 win

    Trea Turner’s hot bat sets the tone vs. Pirates ace Paul Skenes in Phillies’ 10-6 win

    When you’re a two-time batting champion in the midst of a three-month slump, everyone looks for the littlest hint of a breakout. A line drive here, a home run there, anything to forecast the inevitable hot streak.

    Trea Turner has heard it since April.

    “When [reporters] ask me if I’m back, I’m like, ‘I don’t know,’” the Phillies’ star shortstop said recently. “Like, I’ve got to do it for three, four days. You could have a good game here or there, but it’s about consistency.”

    OK, then. How about two weeks’ worth of good games? Or three consecutive games with a homer? Or turning on a sweeper from Paul Skenes and hitting it into the left-field seats Wednesday night to power a 10-6 pounding of the Pirates, the Phillies’ seventh win in nine games?

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    Is Turner finally hot?

    Was it 96 degrees at first pitch?

    “I feel like the last three or four weeks have been pretty solid,” Turner said. “I know how good I am. I know how good I can be, focusing on the last three weeks and getting back to two-strike hitting and scoring runs. I feel like I’ve scored runs at a really good clip because the guys behind me are playing so well.

    “But that’s my job, to score runs, so I feel like the last few weeks have been really good.”

    Interim manager Don Mattingly seems amused by the topic. After Turner doubled, homered, and drove in three runs on his 33rd birthday Tuesday night, Mattingly answered a question with two playful questions: “Is he coming back? Is he going yet?”

    Phillies co-ace Zack Wheeler gave up four runs in only 4⅔ innings Wednesday night.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    But it’s clear Turner has rediscovered … something. He said he has been pleased with his two-strike approach. He’s making better adjustments within a game. After popping up in his first at-bat against Skenes, he ditched his leg kick before the home run.

    Most importantly, Mattingly noted that Turner isn’t swinging at as many pitches out of the strike zone.

    “He’s always going to chase a little bit,” Mattingly said. “But when it’s not in the other batter’s box, you know he’s starting to see the ball and take some closer pitches, foul some balls off, and get to balls.”

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    Add it up, and since June 17, when he was reinstalled in the leadoff spot, Turner is 21-for-60 to hike his average from .216 to .239 and his OPS from .595 to .655.

    It’s still not the production that Turner is accustomed to, but hey, it’s a start.

    “I feel like [the numbers] are not going to look good probably no matter what I do for a while,” he said. “Just try to focus on some good progress and then keep rolling with it and see where they end up at the end of the year.”

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    Turner’s revival is happening at a perfect time. Not only are the Phillies (49-38) closing fast on the division-leading Braves, going from 9½ games out on June 7 to only 2½, but the trade deadline is looming on Aug. 3.

    The Phillies entered play Wednesday with the lowest OPS in baseball from their right-handed hitters (.607). But as much as they needed another bat from the right side, they’re unlikely to be able to acquire one as good as Turner.

    In case any of the 41,766 paying customers forgot after Turner finished fifth in the NL MVP race last season, his tone-setting ability was on display again in the worst start of Skenes’ career.

    A presupposed pitchers’ duel between Skenes and Zack Wheeler turned into a dud. The Phillies thumped Skenes for eight runs (seven earned) in four innings; Wheeler gave up four runs and wasn’t happy to be lifted with two out in the fifth inning after 104 pitches, snapping his streak of 53 starts of at least five innings dating back to June 2024.

    “I feel like I’ve earned that,” Wheeler said.

    Neither ace exhibited his usual command. And Skenes was hurt by the Pirates’ defense. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Justin Crawford chopped a ball to third baseman Nick Gonzales, whose throw to the plate hit Alec Bohm and rolled away, enabling two runs to score.

    Up stepped Turner, who got a sweeper on the inner half of the plate and pulled it out to left field for a three-run homer.

    Skenes hadn’t allowed more than five runs in any of his previous 72 major league starts. The Phillies hung a five-spot on him in the second inning. Brandon Marsh tacked on a leadoff homer in the third before Bryce Harper’s two-run double in the fourth opened an 8-2 lead.

    It wasn’t the first time the Phillies conquered Skenes. They clipped him for five runs May 17 in Pittsburgh. He has allowed 39 earned runs all season; 12 have come against the Phillies.

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    Their secret?

    “Our club’s not really afraid of anybody,” Mattingly said. “It doesn’t matter who the guy is. We’ve got guys who’ve had success in their career, and you’re not shying away from guys like this.”

    Turner added: “I think we’ve got a good team.”

    The Phillies are on a 109-win pace under Mattingly (40-19) after a 9-19 start that prompted a managerial change.

    And now they’ve got Turner playing like Turner again.

    “Somebody asked me earlier, when do I feel like Trea’s going good,” Mattingly said. “Once a guy gets rolling, I mean, you know it’s there and he finds the field. … Trea’s been going for a while now.”

  • Cristopher Sánchez battles through a scrape, pitches seven scoreless innings in Phillies’ shutout win vs. Pirates

    Cristopher Sánchez battles through a scrape, pitches seven scoreless innings in Phillies’ shutout win vs. Pirates

    Cristopher Sánchez unleashed a first-pitch strike in the second inning and called for a trainer.

    Uh-oh.

    Three words the Phillies never want to see in the same sentence: “Cristopher Sánchez” and “trainer.” But there they were Tuesday night, and well, Citizens Bank Park held its collective breath.

    Sánchez, it turned out, cut loose a changeup and scraped the top of his left thumb, the evidence of which was a blood stain between the red pinstripes on his white pants. He smiled, even chuckled with a few teammates, and a few dabs later, the ace lefty was firing again.

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    Crisis averted. Sánchez kept throwing his signature changeup without incident, allowing three hits in seven scoreless innings. And the Phillies cakewalked, 8-0, over the Pirates to move within 2½ games of the first-place Braves, who lost at home to the Cardinals.

    Oh, and postgame fireworks went off as planned for the 41,710 paying customers.

    Scrape? What scrape?

    “Yeah, just a little scratch on the finger,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “It happens sometimes when I throw the changeup because of the touch with the finger. So, it’s no big deal.”

    But that momentary pit-of-their-stomach feeling as assistant athletic trainer Christian Bermudez went out to see Sánchez underscores the precariousness of this entire thing.

    Justin Crawford drove in the Phillies’ first two runs with a two-out single in the second inning Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Look, there isn’t any replacing Sánchez, whose next home start may come for the National League in the All-Star Game in two weeks. He sits atop the rotation with a 2.00 ERA, second in the majors behind only the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski (1.45).

    But the Phillies lack the organizational pitching depth to cover for any of their starters if they miss even a turn or two. They already have back-of-the-rotation worries, with Aaron Nola’s 6.04 ERA and Andrew Painter’s return to triple A. The fifth-starter spot is occupied by Alan Rangel, who has twice been used behind an opener.

    One injury, and it all comes down like a Jenga tower.

    Surely, then, an anxious feeling came over interim manager Don Mattingly when Sánchez waved to the dugout.

    The Phillies still need a right-handed bat. Let’s take an early dive into some options before the trade deadline.

    “Yeah, a little bit,” Mattingly said. “Especially in the second [inning], right? You’re like, ‘Oh, not tonight.’ But once you get out there, you kind of see what it is. It’s not like a cut on a nail or anything like that where you feel like it’s going to keep getting extended. They did a nice job of stopping that.”

    Justin Crawford gave Sánchez a 2-0 lead by cueing a two-out single inside the third-base line. It was up to Sánchez to keep it that way because the Phillies didn’t break things open until scoring three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

    Trea Turner, on his 33rd birthday, had an RBI double in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Trea Turner, on his 33rd birthday, levied most of that damage, with an RBI double in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth. Don’t look now, but he’s 19-for-55 (.345) over the last 13 games, a welcome sign for an offense that is looking for more production from the right side of the plate.

    “Is he going yet?” Mattingly said, mimicking questions about when Turner will get going at the plate. “I don’t know if he’s going yet or not. But to see Trea get a big hit down the line and then the home run, it really extends that lead where it saves us [from using] an arm in the bullpen.”

    Sánchez leaned on his changeup, as usual, but continued to spin more sliders. After throwing 26 in his last start, he mixed in 17 against the Pirates, six of which came in his first 19 pitches.

    No matter what he throws, Sánchez owns the Pirates. Six weeks ago, he struck out 13, a career-high, in a six-hit shutout in Pittsburgh. This time, he didn’t give up a hit until Nick Gonzales punched a two-out single in the fourth inning.

    Sánchez is lined up to pitch Monday in Kansas City and July 11 in Detroit, the closing arguments in his case to start three days later (it would be his bullpen day) in the All-Star Game.

    As you may have heard, it will be held in South Philly.

    “[It would be] another goal, another dream come true and more when you think about it in this beautiful city,” Sánchez said. “The fans deserve that and even more.”

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    Symbolically and strategically, Sánchez is a sensible choice to start for the NL. Misiorowski throws harder than any pitcher in history, with a fastball that’s been clocked at 105.5 mph. But Sánchez has allowed seven earned runs in 73 innings for a 0.86 ERA in 11 home starts. Since 2024, he has a 1.76 ERA in 280⅔ innings over 43 starts at home.

    In his latest gem, he pitched out of one quasi jam, a two-on, two-out spot in the fourth inning, by striking out Endy Rodríguez on a signature changeup, and sidestepped a one-out double by Billy Cook in the fifth inning.

    But even with a 100-degree heat wave rolling into town, it was no sweat compared to the Phillies’ dodging an injury to their ace. As Sánchez received a quick fix on the mound, Turner and other infielders looked on and laughed.

    “They were just giving me a hard time and joking around on the mound,” Sánchez said. “You know, these guys are terrible.”

    As long as the Phillies keep their pitchers healthy, the good times can keep rolling.

  • Phillies fall as Aaron Nola is left searching for answers — and trying a new pitch — in quest to turn his season around

    Phillies fall as Aaron Nola is left searching for answers — and trying a new pitch — in quest to turn his season around

    For the better part of a decade, Aaron Nola has been the Phillies’ workhorse.

    It’s a role he takes pride in. Six times, he has taken down over 180 innings in a season. But lately, that durability has started to show cracks.

    Last year, Nola was uncharacteristically hampered by injuries. He’s healthy now, but his bounceback season hasn’t gone according to plan. And after Monday’s 11-7 loss to the Pirates, where he allowed a season-high seven earned runs over just 4⅓ innings, the path forward isn’t clear.

    “I haven’t really had a stretch like this ever in my career,” said Nola, whose season ERA has risen to 6.04.

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    Nola squandered a 5-0 lead the offense built against Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft. Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh each hit solo homers in the first inning, while Bryce Harper hit a two-run shot in the third. All three homers came in two-strike counts.

    But Nola had issues with homers, too. He looked efficient early with an eight-pitch first inning, and was getting a lot of batters to swing and miss. But he started to falter by the fourth. Bryan Reynolds was inches away from clearing the top of the railing in left-center, settling for a leadoff double. He scored anyway when Esmerlyn Valdez teed up a curveball over the middle of the plate for a two-run shot.

    “Early in that game I thought he was going to roll,” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “The way he was throwing the ball, it seemed sharp. Good breaking ball, down in the zone, a lot of swing-and-miss early in the game. And then just got sideways. So I’m not quite sure what happened.”

    For the seventh time this year, Nola failed to get out of the fifth inning, which turned ugly quickly. Nola allowed four hits — including another homer and a double — and walked two in the frame.

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    Three runs had already scored when Seth Johnson finally relieved him with the bases loaded, and all three inherited runs would score, too.

    “It just sped up on him quite a bit there,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “The stuff diminished quite a bit. … You could just tell he got a little tired, it was hot, just the stuff wasn’t as good that inning.”

    Although Nola induced 23 whiffs from Pirates hitters, the second-most in a game in his career, he wasn’t able to take many positives from his outing.

    “A lot of runs tonight, I didn’t really do well with the lead I got, what the guys gave me. They hit really well tonight,” Nola said. “… Swing and misses, honestly, tonight it doesn’t really matter. Gave up too many hits, too many runs, got to be better at that.”

    The two homers Nola allowed Monday upped his season total to 19, which is tied for fifth-most among pitchers this year.

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    As Nola tries to find a way to turn his season around, he has started toying with a slider as a potential different look for hitters. It can be a challenge to add a new pitch mid-season and he hasn’t thrown it much. He flashed it three times against the Pirates, generating one whiff.

    “Just something different,” Nola said. “I throw so many curveballs, and I feel like we saw it tonight, if one pops, it usually gets barreled. So we’ll see.”

    Nola’s shorter outing caused the Phillies to turn to their bullpen earlier than hoped, as the unit had been taxed recently after some tight games against the Nationals and Mets.

    After entering the game, Johnson issued a leadoff walk to force in the go-ahead run, and then induced a grounder to Harper. He got the force out at second, but Turner flung the ball high over first base, allowing two more runs to score for the 8-5 Pirates lead. Turner’s error is his 11th of the season, which has already surpassed his full-season total of eight in 2025.

    Bryce Harper (right) celebrates with Brandon Marsh after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of Monday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The offense showed some life late, though. Marsh hit his second homer of the game in the eighth to start chipping away. He fell behind in the count, 1-2, to Gregory Soto, but put a good swing on a high and inside fastball. Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto hit back-to-back two-out singles to cut the lead to 8-7.

    Derek Hill kept the line moving with a walk, but Justin Crawford was called out on strikes to end it, stranding two.

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    In the ninth, Mattingly opted to use righty Chase Shugart, who had blown a save against the Mets on Sunday, with the intention of preserving his higher-leverage arms. It backfired when he gave up a three-run homer to Pittsburgh catcher Endy Rodríguez that put the Pirates back ahead by four runs.

    “I really didn’t feel like I have much of a choice, honestly, there,” Mattingly said. “Didn’t really feel like, where we’re at with everything, we could just keep chasing a win in with our back-end guys and lose another one. Yeah, I felt like we had to get through that with Shug. He gets two outs quick, and then little kind of a halfway flare to center, and yeah, obviously the breaking ball he hits for the homer.”

    In the bottom of the ninth, Turner struck out, Schwarber grounded out, and Marsh struck out to end it.