What now? Phillies lose both closers, one for the season, the other at least a few weeks in middle of pennant race

PHILADELPHIA — It should have been a day of celebration for the Phillies. After all, it was the last time that the schedule was going to force them to face the New York Mets.

Alas, before the first pitch of the regular season finale between the teams was thrown Sunday, the Phillies were thrown for a loop.

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Corey Knebel, the free agent acquisition who began the season as the club closer, is now finished for the season. Knebel, who has been out for the past week due to a right lat strain, was found by doctors to have “a tear in the shoulder capsule along with the lat” injury, according to interim manager Rob Thomson.

“He’s going to go to Texas tonight and get stem cell treatment (there),” Thomson said, “to try to avoid surgery as much as he can, and try to get back pitching as soon as he can.”

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Although nothing official has been announced, the optimistic plan for Knebel, who missed 92 games for the Dodgers last season with a right lat strain, is for him to regain his health and be ready for next spring training . . . somewhere.

The Phillies have transferred him to the 60-day Injured List, and Knebel is only signed for this season. The one-year, $10 million deal for the 30-year-old reliever was a bit of a gamble as he’d only pitched 39 innings over the previous two seasons with L.A. and Milwaukee.

“I’m sure it’s disappointing for him, but it’s really disappointing for us, because he was a big part of that bullpen,” Thomson said. “Even though (recently) he’s been pitching in some low-leverage situations, it’s just his presence out there and the pro that he is and how he took care of the younger guys; it was really good.”

What makes the Knebel news really bad is the timing, as Seranthony Dominguez, who had essentially replaced Knebel as the closer, was put on the 15-day IL (retroactive to Aug. 18) due to “stiffness” in the triceps of his throwing arm. Thomson had said Saturday that he didn’t find out about Dominguez’s problem until that morning.

“We sent him for an X-ray (Saturday) night just to check for bone chips and stuff like that, and that was clean,” Thomson said. “Now he’s going to get an MRI today just to see if there’s any structural damage. But we think — we’re hoping — that when his IL time is up, he’s back with us.”

Thomson admitted he’d been concerned with overusing Dominguez, who since regaining the closer responsibilities had occasionally been putting triple digits up on the speed guns, because he had come back this season after a long rehab after Tommy John surgery in 2020.

“I said it all year, we’ve got to be careful with him,” Thomson said. “This is just precaution, really, just to take the ball out of his hands and let him rest.

“In the back of my mind I always thought there was going to be a time when we’ve got to just give him some time, just let him breathe a little bit and heal up. He hasn’t pitched in basically two years, and this is his first full season, you know? So it’s tough.”

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What’s tougher is that in the blink of a late-August eye, the Phillies essentially lost their two closers, though the crossed-finger hope is that Dominguez can be back for the bulk of the September stretch drive.

For now, trade deadline acquisition David Robertson takes over as the Phillies’ full-time closer, after getting his 17th save of the season (three with the Phils) via a 4-1 victory over the Mets Saturday night in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park.

There were more than a few raised eyebrows when Phillies president Dave Dombrowski swapped highly regarded pitching prospect Ben Brown to Chicago for the 37-year-old Robertson on Aug. 2. Robertson, signed to a one-year, $3.5 million deal before the season, had been the Cubs’ primary closer.

“He’s been a big addition, no doubt,” Thomson said of Robertson, who in his 14th season went 3-0 with a 2.23 ERA for the Cubs, and has yet to allow an earned run in seven appearances for the Phils.

With Robertson as closer, Thomson said he’ll count on Connor Brogdon and Jose Alvarado as set-up guys, along with Andrew Bellatti, who would likely be Robertson’s back-up closer.

Obviously, this bullpen, which has been more effective than anyone could have expected, has taken a huge hit. To help ease a bit of the pain, the Phillies brought up Tyler Cyr from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Sunday.

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“He was pitching great,” Thomson said of Cyr. “His velocity ticked up to the mid-90s, he’s got a really good split. . . . He might have gone two innings once this year. He’s gone back to back, checked all the boxes. . . . I’m sure now that he’s in the big leagues, if we asked him to do two, he’ll probably do two.”