Pivetta stays in a little too long

PHILADELPHIA >> His bullpen got too much work on a 1-6 road trip that ended Thursday with a 13-inning loss in Chicago. So Phillies manager Pete Mackanin was trying to conserve a little pitching energy Friday night when he decided to let his starting pitcher, Nick Pivetta, bat in the fourth inning.

That wouldn’t at all be out of the ordinary, except that at the time, the Phils had the bases loaded with two outs and were trailing by two runs against elite Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg.

Pivetta, a Washington draftee who had all of 22 career at-bats in the minor leagues and two previous ABs with the Phillies — one in Los Angeles the prior Sunday and a buntpopout in the second inning of this game — predictably struck out. Then he slammed the head of his bat into the ground.

He might only have four hits in his professional career, but that doesn’t mean Pivetta can’t act like a hitter.

Anyway, he had thrown 77 pitches through those first four innings, and the Phillies did have a fresh bullpen long-arm in Jake Thompson, just called up from Lehigh Valley for this game.

“Yeah, he’s the protection,” Mackanin said of Thompson before the game. “He can give us length.”

He didn’t give the Phils anything at that point, because Mackanin greenlighted Pivetta to hit ... or swing and miss ... in that crucial two-out spot in the bottom of the fourth. That didn’t look great in the top of the fifth when Pivetta went back out and promptly served up backto-back home runs to Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon, key blows in what became a 4-2 Nationals victory at Citizens Bank Park.

“Pivetta had good stuff coming out of his hand, he just had poor location,” Mackanin said. “He had trouble locating his fastball inside to hitters. He suffered with the long ball, threw (three) solo home runs. That kind of did him in ... and a hundred pitches in five innings.”

Actually it was 101, but who’s counting?

“Almost 30 pitches in the first inning, which kind of hurt me,” Pivetta, 24, said after dropping to 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in this stint that will last only as long as Aaron Nola remains out with a sore back. “They made adjustments on my mistakes. Just one of those games; good hitting team.

“They put some hits on balls, I fell down on one pitch . ... Hopefully next time I’ll just be better and have a smoother, quicker first inning. I have to be better executing pitches in certain situations.”

Certainly that would include those two pitches he threw that only Zimmerman and Rendon executed on. Had Mackanin opted for a pinch-hitter, that wouldn’t have happened. But the manager noted he is hamstrung with both an overused bullpen — Pivetta fits right in with a staff that, outside of Jeremy Hellickson, almost typically tosses upwards of 100 pitches through only five or maybe six innings. To make matters worse, the Phillies have a thin bench right now, putting pinch-hitting at a premium.

“We’re having enough trouble getting innings out of our starters,” Mackanin said. “That’s what we need as much as anything right now.

“Sure, I’d love to jump on an opportunity to have the bases loaded and be able to hit for him, but at the same time it’s so early in the game, with a fourman bench, it’s tough to do that, that early.”

Mackanin wound up inserting Thompson (three quick outs with two Ks in one inning of work) to start the sixth, Pivetta cooked at 101 pitches. He allowed one run on four hits in the first inning alone, then gave up three solo homers after that. But he also struck out six while walking none.

“Pivetta has good enough stuff in order to be successful,” Mackanin said. “He’s young. I think he’s going to be good. But he had trouble locating all his pitches, and when you can’t locate it doesn’t matter how hard you throw. Pitching, especially at this level, comes down to locating pitches.”

••• Good news on the injury front, as general manager Matt Klentak said nothing untoward came about as a result of an MRI given to Nola.

The 23-year-old righty has been tending to an aching back, having last pitched April 20. According to Klentak, he’ll throw a bullpen session this weekend and then make a rehab start (or probably two) in the minors.

“This was a precautionary MRI and it came back clean,” Klentak said. “He will continue to work through this.”

The report on injured outfielder Howie Kendrick is similarly encouraging. Though Mackanin said he “still feels something” with his oblique strain and the club continues to take it slow with him, Kendrick likely will see rehab game action by next week, too.

“He’d have to get five or 10 bats at the minimum, in my opinion,” Mackanin said, “at least to get back on track . ... He looks like an 18-year-old kid trying to make a team. Just full of energy. He looks fine but he still felt that (pain) and with that oblique you have to be real careful. I’d hate to lose him for the rest of the season because he came back too soon.”

NOTES >> With Thompson added to the roster, the Phillies optioned utility guy Ty Kelly to the IronPigs . ... Strasburg threw 119 pitches over his 5⅔ innings stint. That’s a career high. “We made him work, he threw a lot of pitches,” Mackanin said, “but the bottom line is we have to score off him.”