Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Garcia arrives to shore up bullpen
Friday night’s rainout in Washington gives the Phillies three off days this week, which offers another chance for manager Pete Mackanin to sort out a floundering bullpen.
WASHINGTON >> Friday night’s rainout in Washington gives the Phillies three off days this week, which offers another chance for manager Pete Mackanin to sort out a floundering bullpen.
The next man into the breach is Luis Garcia, who was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley Friday.
Garcia is 1-0 without allowing a run in 4 1/3 innings this season for the big club. He allowed just two hits and two walks in five appearances during an April call-up.
Mackanin said Garcia was one of two options in Lehigh Valley on the 40man roster, the other being lefty Adam Morgan. But Mackanin’s preference is to see whether the 30-yearold righty can stake a permanent role in the bullpen in his fifth season with the big-league club, a tenure that has included 131 appearances, 72 of them in 2015.
“At this point, you’d like to have more to choose from, to call up the hot hand, whoever is pitching well and having that guy being on the roster,” Mackanin said. “But since that’s not the case, we still think that Garcia has enough ability to where if it clicks, he can be really good. At this stage, we’re going to exhaust every possibility of him doing that.”
Jake Thompson was demoted after Wednesday’s 11-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Thompson didn’t exactly stanch the bleeding in the bullpen, allowing five runs in five innings over three appearances. Mackanin wants to see Thompson back in the rotation at Lehigh Valley, where the 23-year-old made five starts this season. Thompson started 10 games as a midseason callup to the Phils in 2016.
Help could be on the way in the form of Jeanmar Gomez, who is due to be activated off the disabled list Tuesday. Mackanin said that the former closer still feels an impingement in his right elbow, though Mackanin said that, “within the next couple of days, I would assume he’s going to throw.”
Gomez allowed 15 hits and 11 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings over nine appearances this year, in the process being deposed from his closer’s role and introducing the back-end bullpen chaos the Phillies have grappled with in recent weeks. Mackanin is encouraged, though, by the two scoreless innings Gomez threw against the Cubs in his last outing May 4, an appearance that player and manager agreed was among his strongest of the season.
The Phillies’ bullpen is 22nd in MLB with a 4.66 ERA. Phils relievers have a 5-9 record with eight blown saves (trailing only Tampa Bay) in 13 opportunities.
NOTES >> The rain forces a split doubleheader Sunday with games at 1:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Both games will be televised on Comcast SportsNet. Nick Pivetta (0-2, 5.40 ERA) will start Saturday night’s game, opposed by the Nats’ Tanner Roark (3-1, 3.46). Jeremy Hellickson (4-1, 3.49) is slated for the opener Sunday with Vince Velasquez (2-3, 5.94) in the nightcap for Philadelphia. The Nationals have Gio Gonzalez (3-1, 2.64) and Max Scherzer (4-2, 2.59) lined up for Sunday’s twin bill. … Howie Kendrick (abdominal strain) took ground balls at Nationals Park in the intermittent rain Friday as he nears a return from the DL, where he’s been since April 16. Kendrick has done some light hitting work and is scheduled to do more intensive swinging in the cage in the coming days, possibly with an eye toward returning in the next series in Texas. … Starting pitcher Aaron Nola (back strain) will make another rehab start for Lehigh Valley Monday in Rochester. Nola worked four strong innings Wednesday for the IronPigs. He is 2-0 with a 4.75 ERA in three starts with the big league club this year before landing on the disabled list April 24.