Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Eflin, Hoskins lead Phillies over Braves
Aaron Nola would provide top-of-the-rotation reliability.
For $118 million, the Phillies were right to expect ace-like production from Zack Wheeler.
Jake Arrieta, one of the marquee right-handers of his generation, would make a reasonable No. 3 starter.
And if the Phillies were to contend in 2020, they would need a No. 4. Saturday, Zach Eflin continued to show that ability when he worked seven innings, striking out eight and walking none in an important 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Joe Girardi knows a championship-level rotation when he sees one. And if he squints just enough …
“I don’t want to get too far out ahead of ourselves, and I don’t want to jinx ourselves,” said Girardi after the Phillies ran a winning streak to five. “But I’ve always liked our rotation. I’ve always thought it would be a strength of our club. What I saw early on in camp, in February, and what I saw in camp in July, they pitched really well.
“They’ve been giving us distance. They have been getting through lineups three times. And they have been really effective. We need that to continue.”
Eflin, who retired 11 consecutive Braves between the second and sixth innings, showed great command Saturday, registering six strikeouts with his curve ball and throwing 59 of his 83 pitches for strikes.
“It’s a confidence pitch,” Eflin said of his curve. “I trust it, just like I do with all of my weapons.”
The Phillies are trusting Eflin.
“Today, his curve ball was sharp, and he got a lot of bad swings from some right-handed hitters,” Rhys Hoskins said. “And he got a couple of ugly swings from Freddie (Freeman) and any time you can do that it means the ball is doing some good stuff, moving the way he hopes.”
The Phillies’ starting pitchers have gone 4-0 with a 2.43 ERA over their last six games.
••• David Robertson, who has given the Phillies a total of seven appearances since signing a $33 million contract before last season, has been shut down for a second consecutive year.
Recovering from Tommy John surgery, Robertson had what Girardi called a “setback” while working in the satellite camp in Allentown.
“He will be down for six weeks, so his season is over,” Girardi said. “His elbow is cranky. And we just need to get him back on track.”
The Phillies can buy Robertson out for $2 million at the end of this season.
••• On the afternoon after delivering a late-night walk-off home run, Scott Kingery was back on the bench.
With Girardi pleased with Alec Bohm at third and Jean Segura at second, Kingery apparently will need to improve on his .194 batting average with pinch-hits or spot starts … at least for a while.
“I’ve been saying he’s been swinging the bat better,” Girardi said after the homer. “That’s the great thing about this game. You always have a chance to rewrite the script. That was just a great night for him, and hopefully he takes off.”
Kingery slow start could be connected to his bout with coronavirus, which caused him to join the summer camp late. But he has been hitting the ball harder in recent days and understands his situation.
“Any time you start to square the ball up, it kind of keeps going and gets your confidence back up,” he said. “And just getting back into the rhythm of feeling what it’s like to square a ball up is helpful. But just waiting and letting the ball come to me is something I have been working on recently.”
••• NOTES » Girardi remained unclear Saturday about when Ranger Suarez, said to be fit after coronavirus and some rehab time in Lehigh Valley, would rejoin the Phillies. … In a daygame-after-night-game concession, Girardi used Realmuto as the designated hitter Saturday, with Knapp as the catcher. … Arrieta (2-3, 4.32 ERA) will start against the visiting Braves Sunday night at 7:08.