Phillies cruise to an easy win over San Francisco
PHILADELPHIA » It was the typical path to Philadelphia for Zach Eflin when he was promoted from Triple A and tossed into the starting rotation for a game May 1 in Miami. Injury issues, and he’s had more than his share, had helped keep him at the minor league level for much of the time he’s been with the Phillies. Now other pitching injuries were bringing him back.
Despite coming off two straight less-than-stellar starts with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Eflin surprised with six strong innings against the Marlins that night, allowing only one earned run in a no-decision.
Flash forward to Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, and helped along by a Phillies’ offensive jumpstart, Eflin was even better. He flourished in a 109-pitch cruise through the San Francisco Giants, pitching 6⅔ innings of scoreless baseball in what would be an 11-0 Phillies victory.
Along the way, Eflin allowed only four hits while chalking up a career-high nine strikeouts against one of the hottest teams in the major leagues.
Not only did that impress manager Gabe Kapler, it seemed to take him a little by surprise.
“I will say this, there were swings and misses on fastballs in the zone by some really good hitters,” Kapler said, “and those were the ones that were really standing out to us.”
What really stood out was not only the result, but the way Eflin looked. The sinkerish, low-90s pitches of the guy promoted twice last season before it was wiped by shoulder troubles has transformed into a guy who commanded four pitches over the Giants and was hitting 96 with ease.
That’s because of a couple of adjustments on his delivery and a newfound belief in his best pitch.
“I think I’m throwing the four-seamer a little more,” he said of his hard-lined fastball. “I just seem to have such better life with it. Now that I’m using my legs, I’m really getting extension. I’m on the third base side of the rubber, too, which makes it play up a little more. So whatever’s working out on the mound, whether it’s the four-seamer or the twoseam, that’s what I’m going to throw more.”
Eflin limited the Giants — who had won seven of eight games coming in — to three walks to go with those four hits. It helped that the Phillies gave him a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before they made an out. Odubel Herrera’s threerun homer, his first of a two dinger night, did that trick.
Herrera is batting .341 with a .537 slugging percentage. Both lead the team.
That first Herrera homer was all Eflin was going to need because he kept firing four-seamers past Giants hitters. But he says he isn’t going to turn into a strikeout pitcher overnight.
“I think there’s times I can do both,” he said. “I don’t think there’s ever a time that I have to blow people away or I have to pitch to contact. It’s good to have both of them. What I’m starting to learn is when to do that; the sequence of pitches. When to throw my hard four-seam or my slower two-seam. It’s fun starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“There’s games in the past where I kind of just nibbled the corners or not really thrown pitches aggressively. It’s changing.”
That said, Jerad Eickhoff isn’t far from returning from his injury rehab, and when he does the Phillies will have a six-starter rotation. But from a performance standpoint, Eflin’s certainly running hotter than fifth in the team’s current rotation race.
“I know the situation,” he said. “I know what’s going on. As of right now, I pitched today, and I’ll see in five days. I’m going to do whatever the team asks me to do.”