Former Phillies pitchers shine in dramatic ALDS game

Former Phillies pitchers Nick Pivetta and David Robertson shine in dramatic Red Sox-Rays ALDS game

At the one-week mark of the Philadelphia Phillies‘ season ending, two former Phillies arms were dueling in Boston.

On the Red Sox side, Nick Pivetta came in for an extra-innings relief appearance of four shutout innings, holding the potent Tampa Bay offense down long enough for the Boston bats to finally reawaken and walk it off to take a 2-1 series lead.

On the Rays side, David Robertson was battling a hot Sox lineup that had scored 14 runs against them on Friday night, including a five-hit game from Kiké Hernández.

Neither pitcher was particularly successful with the Phillies, which actually makes it more frustrating to watch them do so well elsewhere. Robertson was with the team on a two-year deal in 2019 but only appeared in seven games, posting a 5.40 ERA over 6 2/3 innings before requiring Tommy John surgery. The Phillies bought out his option after he missed the 2020 season, and he signed with the Rays in August after pitching for Team USA in the Olympics.

Pivetta made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 2017, and pitched for them for four years before being traded to Boston. He finished his Phillies career with a 5.50 ERA over 92 games. Over his first 33 regular-season games with the Red Sox, he has a 4.36 ERA. He’s only made two career postseason appearances – both with Boston – but as it often goes in the postseason, it only takes one big moment to immortalize a player.

Watching two former Phillies duke it out in the postseason on other teams, it’s easy to wonder what went wrong, like watching an ex find happiness with someone new. Why weren’t they this good when they were here? Did the Phillies make a mistake letting them go? Will the Phillies ever be back in the playoffs themselves?

The Phillies’ pitching struggles are immense and caused by a variety of things: injuries, poor player development, and signings of arms who were never particularly good in the first place. But with Dave Dombrowski as the new President of Baseball Operations, that should all change. He constructed a formidable rotation and bullpen for the Red Sox, and drafted and traded for some of the greatest pitchers of the era in Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Philly’s time is coming, but for now, it’s hard to watch.