Phillies Notebook: Sore shoulder not leaving Corey Knebel uptight

PHILADELPHIA — Still-the-closer Corey Knebel was unavailable for the Phillies Sunday after doing something the night before that he said he’d rarely done before: Tell the manager he had a problem.

“I’ve had injuries in the past, and I’ve thrown through them, and then I get hurt,” Knebel said prior to the Phillies’ 13-1 loss to Arizona, which ended a nine-game winning streak. “So I’d just like this to not be (that).”

Knebel was referring to “tightness” he felt in his throwing shoulder while warming up in the bullpen for the ninth inning Saturday against the Diamondbacks. Rather than treat the problem the way he’d dealt with similar issues before – by virtually ignoring it – Knebel decided to ring up interim manager Rob Thomson from the bullpen.

“That was a first, to be able to let him know that something’s going on and that I probably shouldn’t throw,” Knebel said. “In the past I’ve thrown through it and like I said, I’ve gotten hurt.”

While Knebel is still the closer, he knows he’s not the only able candidate. He felt being careful in this circumstance was better than getting really hurt.

“Being a little more cautious is a good thing right now,” Knebel said. “The boys are doing good. We’d like to keep that going. The ‘pen is doing good, so yeah, we’d like to not have anyone go down.”

Knebel reiterated that while he’s had “other stuff before” in dealing with injuries, it was the first time he felt tightness in his pitching shoulder.

“I didn’t want to force the issue with him today, so he’s out there playing catch now,” Thomson said Sunday. “It looks at this point like there’s no structural damage. But we’ll re-evaluate him and see where he’s at.”

Thomson said he didn’t think Knebels had an MRI, the implication being that at least for now it wasn’t necessary. After the game Sunday Thomson reiterated his closer was “day to day.”

As for closing, Thomson said, “there’s probably three or four guys that can pitch at the end of a game, depending on where you are in the lineup.”

Such temporary candidates would include Seranthony Dominguez and Jose Alvarado, the hard-and-sometimes-wild-throwing lefty just recalled Sunday from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

With the game getting out of hand early on Sunday, Alvarado had a chance to pitch in a very non-closing role, coming in for the seventh inning with the Phillies trailing, 8-1. He immediately gave up a single and walked the next two batters. It appeared he’d get out of it when he sawed Josh Rojas’ bat in half, the ball bounding out to Alvarado for a 1-2-3 double play. But he followed that by giving up a two-run single to Ketel Marte.

Alvarado had been sent down to the IronPigs on May 26.

“Just to let him breathe a little bit,” Thomson said. “Go down where there’s not a lot of pressure and just let him be him, throw strikes and that’s what he did. Now we have him back and he’s a weapon for sure.”

One that is still wholly unpredictable.

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This was Thomson’s first loss as a Phillies manager after winning his previous eight, leaving him tied with Pat Moran (eight straight in 1915) for the franchise record for most consecutive wins at the start of a managing tenure.

No biggie, even if the Phils lost big?

“That’s tough,” Thomson said. “It was a tough day. What we have, 11 walks and a hit batsman? That’s not a recipe for success, for sure. But at the end of the day, we won the series. So we have to move on. That’s the only way to look at it, as far as I’m concerned.

“These guys have a lot of pride and they care a great deal, so they’re probably pretty upset right now, but when they show up tomorrow they’ll be ready to go.”

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One of those players definitely upset was starter Ranger Suarez, who needed time to collect himself after the game before agreeing to an interview session.

Suarez’s command was shaky at best to start the game, and along with shaky fielding from Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto during the inning, ended up allowing three runs in the first while throwing nearly 40 pitches.

“This season, the first inning has been a problem for me,” Suarez said after dropping to 4-4 with a 4.40 ERA. “I run into trouble in the first inning in particular. I don’t know what it is. I feel good but I don’t know what it is.”

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NOTES >> With Alvarado recalled, the Phillies sent reliever Cristopher Sanchez down. … Bryson Stott went 1-for-3 and has 12 hits, 11 RBIs and 12 runs scored in 10 games dating to June 1. … Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs was called on to pitch the ninth inning, the Phillies down 12-1 at the time. He gave up a homer but retired three of the four batters he faced.