The Philadelphia Phillies have been struggling recently to find some consistencies in their roster. The starting pitching is up and down, and the lineup goes from world beaters to being shut out too many times to count seemingly at the drop of a hat. The constant issues are draining the fanbase of confidence that this team can make a deep postseason run. One of the few pieces that has triumphed consistently is closer Jhoan Duran. He's still one of MLB's best at the position, but even Duran has shown one glaring weakness this year and over the course of his career, scuffling in one specific circumstance when the game is hanging in the balance: a tie.
Duran was deployed in Thursday's rubber match against the Houston Astros. He came into a tie game in the ninth inning with almost the assumption that the Phillies would be the ones to break the tie themselves and walk it off. Instead, for the second consecutive series, Duran coughed up the tiebreaking run and was the losing pitcher in the game after the 421-foot home run he surrendered to outfielder Cam Smith. The Phillies need to count on Duran, but for some reason tied games have given him an egregious amount of trouble in 2026.
Duran's woes in tie games need to be addressed before October
In most circumstances, Duran pitching the ninth inning has been a relative breeze in his All-Star campaign, with opposing hitters having a low-.200s batting average and an OPS starting with a five. However, when Duran is brought in with the game tied like he was on Thursday, the opposition is batting .419 with a 1.083 OPS. That can't be sustainable and is obviously making Duran uncomfortable in some capacity.
As I just looked up, it’s not non-save situations for Jhoan Duran. He’s excellent in all situations EXCEPT when the game is tied when he turns into 2020 Brandon Workman: pic.twitter.com/4LQoKrA8fh
— Smarty Jones (@TheSmartyJones) September 10, 2026
Duran has been exceptional in 2026 with a 1.82 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings. He was more than deserving of his All-Star selection in July with his 30 saves, fourth-most in the NL entering play Friday. He's finally given the Phillies a consistent arm to call upon to close out vital games. For whatever reason, tie games have given him the yips this year. That has to get figured out before the postseason arrives to avoid what has plagued Phillies fans over and over again: a bad bullpen. As of Friday and even with the dominance of Duran, the Phillies bullpen has a 4.24 ERA, the 19th-best in MLB.
Perhaps Phillies manager Don Mattingly goes to another arm like Brooks Raley, Jonathan Bowlan, or even rookie flamethrower Alex McFarlane to get them by and give the offense the chance to retake the lead. Unfortunately, where the Phillies are at, Duran needs to take the ball as the best reliever on the team. You just hope that this will subside and won't be a problem in a few weeks.
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