Phillies-Rangers: Five things we learned from the series
The Phillies were swept in rather embarrassing fashion by the Rangers in three games, and here are five things we learned from the series.
The Phillies are on a major skid right now, losing four straight games with just three wins in the last 18 games. This is their worst start through 38 games since 2000; those Phils finished the season 65-97.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis summed up how the team feels fairly well: [quote via Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly]
“It sucks, man,” Galvis said. “That’s the truth. If somebody says it’s OK, it’s not OK. We’re (bleeping) losing a lot of games.”
Even when the team is falling out of the sky like a dead bird, there are still some things to be gleaned from the games. Here are five things we learned from the Phillies-Rangers series.
Zach Eflin is Human
Zach Eflin had five great starts to open this season. The righty allowed 10 earned runs in 32 innings for a 2.81 ERA. He had four straight quality starts between April 23 and May 10. Eflin walked just one batter in that stretch and had just four walks since the season started.
That narrative changed Wednesday night as the Rangers shellacked Eflin for 11 hits and seven runs in just four innings. Eflin continued to use a fastball-heavy approach, throwing it 60.3% of the time in Wednesday’s start, but the Rangers were all over it.
The fact that the Rangers ran over Eflin shouldn’t have been that surprising. Even though he had a 2.81 ERA heading into Wednesday night, Eflin’s FIP (fielding-independent pitching) of 4.35 and xFIP of 4.73 showed that Eflin’s ERA probably should have been higher. While Eflin hasn’t walked many batters this season (he has just a 3.9% walk rate) he hasn’t been striking out batters particularly well with an 11.6% strikeout rate.
Manager Pete Mackanin said Eflin’s struggles Wednesday came from leaving too many pitches up in the zone: [quote via Matt Gelb of Philly.com]
“It was disappointing because I was counting on him to pitch the way he has been for his last few outings,” Mackanin said. “He’s been outstanding. He just couldn’t get the ball down in the zone.”
Eflin’s next start comes May 22 against the Rockies, who currently lead the NL West. Eflin will have to make some adjustments quickly if he wants to rebound.
Nick Pivetta definitely needs some time in the minors
Nick Pivetta finished his start Thursday afternoon without giving up a single run – although a run was charged to him after he left the game – and he gave up just three hits while striking out five batters. However, he only lasted 4.2 innings as he threw 106 pitches by the time he left the game. Pivetta also walked four batters and induced ground balls just 18.2% of the time.
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With Aaron Nola set to come back from the disabled list this weekend against the Pirates, this is likely Pivetta’s last start in the majors for some time. In four starts, Pivetta posted a 5.12 ERA, 5.72 FIP, and 4.42 xFIP. While Pivetta struck out more than a batter per inning, he struggled with his control as he walked nine batters in 19.1 innings.
Pivetta struggled with his efficiency in all of his starts. He never went past the fifth inning and only got through 4.2 innings in his last two starts. Pivetta finished each start with at least 90 pitches and twice went above 100 despite not going deeper into games.
It’s an issue that many Phils pitchers, including Pivetta, have faced this season.
Home runs also plagued the rookie as he gave up a home run on 21.7% of the fly balls he allowed. He mercifully didn’t give up any home runs Thursday, but that rate is still well beyond acceptable.
Now that Pivetta has spent some time in the majors, he has a better grasp of what he needs to work on when he returns to Lehigh Valley. Hopefully, the righty uses that time productively and can fix those issues for when he comes back to the major leagues.
The bullpen is worse than we thought
Talking about bad pitching, the Phillies bullpen. Brad Lidge went on record during spring training saying there is hope for the ‘pen in 2017, but he was far from correct. It’s clearly the worst in baseball, giving up a league-high 27 home runs.
Outside of Pat Neshek, no one in this bullpen can get consistent outs to save their life. Fairly soon moves will be made to give guys in Triple-A a chance to prove themselves because what happened in Texas was embarrassing, and Pete needs to hold people responsible.
Yes, Mackanin hasn’t managed the bullpen all that well and shot himself in the foot with Joely Rodriguez on Thursday. Corresponding moves will have to go through for non-40 man roster players to reach the big leagues, but veterans Pedro Beato and Pat Venditte have been lights out in Lehigh Valley.
Enough is enough with this bullpen, and if I have to watch Luis Garcia throw fastball after fastball down the middle of the plate in the fifth inning one more time, I’m done.
The final stats from the Texas series for the bullpen are as follows: 11.1 innings, 11 earned runs, six walks, three home runs.
Aaron Altherr might just be a flash in the pan
As we typically do in Philadelphia, we jumped all over Aaron Altherr’s hot start of the year once Howie Kendrick went down with an oblique injury. Looking like an All-Star heading into Texas, Altherr has since cooled off from his plus-.300 batting form.
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The outfielder finished the Texas series 3-11 with no extra-base hits in a wide ballpark. The tools are exciting for the German-native, who could have just hit a bump in the road.
At the same time, we must not jump on the Altherr bandwagon just yet. Remember, this was a guy many felt was a Quadruple-A ballplayer who would never find himself in the major leagues.
He can still remind us of his first couple of hot weeks of the season by picking the offense up against Pittsburgh this weekend.
He’s 1-for-4 in his young career against the starting pitchers he’ll see this weekend.
Jerad Eickhoff is continuing to impress on the mound
Jerad Eickhoff taking the loss against Texas was more on the Phillies offense unable to hit against You Darvish, which is understandable. It was a pitchers duel early between the two former Rangers, and Darvish had too much swing and miss stuff.
Eickhoff threw 99 pitches in six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs, and just two were earned. What was most impressive was the eight strikeouts through six innings the young righty put up against an American League lineup on the road.
Maybe there was some desire to dominate his former organization that considered him the throw-in piece for Cole Hamels, but Eickhoff was dominant at points.
Had his pitch count been lower the Phillies would have sent Eickhoff out for one, maybe two more innings of work.
The kid has been a victim of a bad offense providing zero run support, something that always happened to Cole Hamels. One swing could give Eickhoff his first win of the season, but his record now falls to 0-4.
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Expect a good outing against Colorado next week for Eickhoff.