Why relievers Brad Hand and David Robertson are about to play an enhanced role for Phillies in NLCS
Brad Hand #BradHand
SAN DIEGO — Given the situation in the fifth inning Wednesday — tie game, go-ahead runner in scoring position, Aaron Nola on the ropes, and lefty-swinging Jake Cronenworth looming for the San Diego Padres — Brad Hand said he knew it was for him when the Phillies’ bullpen phone rang.
The calls are about to get more frequent.
With the absence of a travel day between Games 5 and 6 of the National League Championship Series, the Phillies and Padres may have to play as many as five games in five days beginning Friday night at Citizens Bank Park. It’s unusual scheduling. In the playoffs, teams rarely play more than two or three games before a day off.
And it will affect the way that Phillies manager Rob Thomson and Padres counterpart Bob Melvin deploy their relievers.
“Nobody’s going to pitch five days in a row,” Hand said after hitting Cronenworth with a slider and giving up two hits in the Phillies’ 8-5 Game 2 loss to the Padres. “You might see four. I wouldn’t say four is out of the question. But we’re going to need everybody down there at some point.”
Especially Hand and fellow veteran David Robertson.
Thomson has leaned on three circle-of-trust relievers in these playoffs. José Alvarado appeared in six of the Phillies’ first seven games, while Zach Eflin and Seranthony Domínguez pitched in four games apiece.
But the schedule dictates that Hand and Robertson will need to pick up some of the high-leverage slack, especially now that co-aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are out of the mix until Games 5 and 6 after starting the series’ first two games in San Diego.
Hand was unable to come through in relief of Nola. He believed he threw the right pitch, only in the wrong location to Cronenworth, before Brandon Drury dunked a two-run single into center field on a full-count slider and Josh Bell singled.
“That one hurts,” Hand said of the pitch that hit Cronenworth. “I think I just tried to overthrow it a little bit. But still after that, had a chance to get out of it with the next guy. Ahead of him 1-2. Just couldn’t make a pitch and get out of it.”
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Trailing by three runs, the Phillies turned to Robertson for the seventh inning. It marked his first appearance since Game 1 of the wild-card series in St. Louis on Oct. 7. He strained his right calf one day later while celebrating a Bryce Harper homer and missed the divisional round against the Atlanta Braves.
Considering Robertson only threw one bullpen session Monday before being included on the NLCS roster, Thomson wanted to reintroduce him in a low-leverage situation. This was it.
But Robertson allowed a mammoth leadoff home run to Manny Machado to stretch the Padres’ lead to 8-4.
“Physically I felt good,” Robertson said. “Just didn’t make some quality pitches when I needed to. I had a good battle with Manny, and he ended up getting that one. Just gave up a couple hits and couldn’t get out of it. Threw too many pitches.”
The Phillies’ most impressive reliever in Game 2 may have been Connor Brogdon, who threw 16 of 20 pitches for strikes in the sixth inning and retired all three batters, including a strikeout of Juan Soto. But he lacks the postseason experience of Robertson and even Hand.
Robertson is pitching in the postseason for the eighth time in his 14-year major league career. He couldn’t recall another time when his team played five games without an off-day in the postseason. But with the addition of the wild-card round, Major League Baseball compressed the playoff schedule.
“That’s kind of crazy,” Melvin said before the NLCS began. “I’ve never seen that before.”
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Crazy or not, the Phillies and Padres will now have to deal with it.
“Once we get past the off day, then I think you really have to think about how you’re going to use your bullpen,” Thomson said. “It’s going to be five days in a row, and you certainly don’t want to put anybody in harm’s way. That’s what we’ve done all year. We’ve tried to take care of guys and make sure they’re healthy and make sure that they can perform at the highest level.”
Robertson doesn’t expect Thomson will lack for options. But quality innings from him and Hand would go a long way to making certain that it isn’t a problem.
“I definitely didn’t even think about [the schedule], but in some way, shape, or form, it could come into play later on,” Robertson said. “I think we’ll be OK. We’ve got plenty of arms.”
Hader’s revenge
The last time Josh Hader faced Alec Bohm and Matt Vierling, they both hit home runs in the ninth inning of a June 7 game in Milwaukee.
Not this time.
Hader, who was dealt to the Padres in June, struck out the side in the ninth inning, including Bohm and Vierling.
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Harper stays hot
Harper went 2-for-3 and extended his hitting streak to seven games, the longest by a Phillies player in the postseason since Ryan Howard hit in eight consecutive games in 2009.
Harper also has a seven-game, extra-base-hit streak, a franchise record in the playoffs and the longest by any player since George Springer’s seven-game run in 2017-18. Harper has eight extra-base hits in the playoffs, two shy of tying the club record shared by Howard (2009) and Jayson Werth (2008).
Extra bases
Given the option of flying home overnight or Thursday, the Phillies opted for the red-eye. “Although the science tells you should stay over, we said, ‘No, let’s go home. If [the players] want to go, let’s go,’” Thomson said. The Phillies have stayed in hotels for 21 of the last 24 nights. … Left-hander Ranger Suárez (3.65 ERA in the regular season, 2.70 in one playoff start) will start Game 3 on Friday night against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove (2.93 in the regular season, 1.38 in two playoff starts).
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