Kapler planning to maximize Nola’s usage
PHILADELPHIA » Gabe Kapler has refused all season to believe the Phillies will not be involved in the postseason. By Wednesday, he was backing up his confidence with a pitching rotation designed, in part, to make Aaron Nola available to pitch in a onegame wild-card playoff or in Game 1 of an NLDS.
Originally scheduled to pitch Monday in Miami, Nola instead will start at home Sunday against the Chicago Cubs. From there, Kapler will have the flexibility to both maximize the number of Nola starts by Game 160, Friday, Sept. 28, against visiting Atlanta.
Zach Eflin will pitch Saturday against Chicago. Vince Velasquez will pitch and run the bases Monday against the Marlins.
The motivation for the juggling?
“Mostly because,” Kapler said, “Nola is awesome.”
However Kapler would have had it arranged, Nola would have made six more starts. With the new configuration, four of those starts will be in Citizens Bank Park, where he has been particularly effective this season. That will begin Sunday against the Cubs’ Jon Lester, who is 7-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his career against the Phillies.
Tough Nola will not pitch against the Braves on the final day of the season, he will be better ready to start in the National League wild-card game Oct. 2.
“Everything matters,” Kapler said. “So I’m not saying that that wasn’t a consideration. It was a consideration. Also, in the other scenario, we might have lost an Aaron Nola start if there were a rainout. This helps.”
Nola is 15-3 with a 2.10 ERA and was victimized by his bullpen Tuesday, when the Phillies wasted a lead and fell to the Nationals.
“We’ve had our fair share of losses this month and a loss like that stings pretty bad,” Nola said. “But we’re going to keep on fighting. It’s not over.”
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Jose Bautista made his first start with the Phillies Tuesday, playing in right against Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez. Roman Quinn started in center. Left-handed hitters Nick Williams and Odubel Herrera were rested.
“We’ve got Quinn and Bautista, Bautista with the .370-plus on-base percentage against lefthanded pitching and Roman Quinn, who has had really good at-bats against lefties and has shown some pop over the course of his minor-league career against lefties,” Kapler said. “Now we have an opportunity to set up Bautista for success, Quinn for success and give Nick Williams and Odubel a little bit of a blow against a guy that might give them trouble. And it’s kind of a win-win-win-win.”
Acquired in a waiver deal from the Mets for future considerations, Bautista struck out as a pinch-hitter Tuesday, yet is ready to settle in with the Phils.
“This is a great team,” he said. “I’ll be a part of it any way they’ll have me. I’m just trying to get us closer to the win every single day whether it’s running the bases, playing defense, getting hit by a pitch, making a play on defense having a good at-bat, whatever it takes.”
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When Asdrubal Cabrera was acquired at the trade deadline, the quick assumption was that he’d eventually replace lighthitting Scott Kingery at short. But Kingery was hitting .286 in August, has played stellar defense, and has been difficult to dislodge from the lineup.
Wednesday, he started at short behind Jake Arrieta.
“It’s a very small sample size, but he is having one of his better months of the year offensively,” Kapler said. “He has become a legitimately good shortstop. He has been really steady for us out there. We have two highquality ground-ball pitchers in Nola and Arrieta who we depend on to help us. And we owe it to them to put a really good defender out there at shortstop when we can. It’s not to say Asdrubal is not a great defender as well. But we think Scott is our best defensive shortstop.”
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As Kapler endeavors to win a playoff spot without a dedicated, season-long closer, here comes Hector Neris back into consideration for the role.
Since his last recall from the minors, Neris had struck out 16 of the 26 hitters he’d faced entering play Wednesday.
“Given how good Hector has been, what I am thinking about a lot more is how can we get Hector back out there in the highest-leverage situation in the game, whether that’s the sixth inning, the seventh, the eighth or the ninth,” Kapler said. “And so, in the biggest moment, with the heart of the lineup up and kind of with all the pressure on, I am thinking about how to get him into that moment.”
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The Phils are off Thursday. Friday, Nick Pivetta (7-10, 4.76 ERA) will oppose Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana (11-9, 4.33). Eflin (9-5, 3.99) and righthander Kyle Hendricks (10-10, 3.86) will pitch Saturday.