PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies season is only 20 games old, but it feels like they’ve already had their fair share of hype-worthy affairs.
An early-April visit from the reigning World Series champion Dodgers followed by a voyage to Atlanta will tend to do that. Ditto next week’s NLDS rematch at Citi Field.
But this week has produced a statistical oddity: For the third time in four nights, the Phillies’ lineup had matched up with a Cy Young Award winner.
Friday night brought in Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner with the Miami Marlins, for a marquee meeting with Zack Wheeler. The 2022 season was the same one in which Justin Verlander won the honor in the American League, as a member of the Houston Astros. Verlander toed the rubber at Citizens Bank Park Tuesday night as a member of the Giants, a night before San Francisco gave 2021 AL Cy Young Robbie Ray the ball.
Add in a meeting with Chris Sale in Atlanta, and a fifth of the Phillies’ first 20 games have come against guys who’ve once been feted as the top pitcher in their league.
To be sure, each is different now than when they had their name etched on the trophy, short of Sale, who won it last year. Only Sale and Alcantara are still with the same team, though Alcantara’s comes with the sizeable caveat that is a missed 2024 season thanks to Tommy John surgery.
Alcantara went 14-9 with a 2.28 ERA in 228.2 innings, his second straight 200-inning season, in 2023 to be a unanimous selection for the award. He struggled to follow that up, with a 7-12 mark in 28 starts and a 4.14 ERA over 184.2 innings in 2023. Now 29, he was shut down in September of that year and had Tommy John Surgery two days after the Marlins were eliminated in the NL Wild Card Series by the Phillies.
This year, his stuff has seemed to bounce back. He’s gone 2-0 with a 4.70 ERA over 15.1 innings. His velocity is near pre-surgery levels, touching 98 miles per hour on the gun Friday, and he’s working to get his command back. He’s walked four batters in two of his starts, particularly harmful since he hasn’t been allowed to throw more than 91 pitches in an outing, the Marlins exercising caution.
“Normal stuff,” Rob Thomson diagnosed Friday. “Fastball velocity is still there. The breaking pitch is really good. His changeup is really good.”
Reaching the Cy Young level and staying there is … difficult, as the quartet the Phillies have faced this year indicate. Ray is on his fifth organization. He won the award in 2021 with Toronto, signed a five-year, $115 million deal with Seattle and was just OK in his first year there (12-12, 3.71 ERA in 189 innings). He had Tommy John in early 2023 and has made just 12 starts since the end of 2022, traded last year.
Verlander is in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career. His 2022 Cy Young was his third, to go with a World Series title. He left the Astros for an ill-fated stint with the Mets, before returning to Houston and now with the Giants.
The Phillies have fared well against the Cy quartet, having scored 19 runs in 16.1 innings against them. That’s a 10.47 ERA, with none of the four getting a win.
They tagged Sale for five runs in 4.2 innings, though Wheeler gave up five runs in 5.1 frames. They hung a loss on Verlander, who gave up four earned runs in 5.2 innings. Ray walked five and struck out eight in four laborious innings, allowing four runs for a no decision.
The Phillies greeted Alcantara rudely, Trea Turner drawing a walk and Bryce Harper taking him yard for a 2-0 lead. Alcantara used 30 pitches in the first inning and lasted just two innings, allowing four hits, six earned runs and striking out just one.
NOTES >> Nick Castellanos did some agility work pregame, enough to clear him for him for the start Friday. Castellanos left Thursday’s game with hip flexor tightness. Thomson said that fact that Castellanos played all 162 games last year and takes pride in being an ironman didn’t play into it. … Brandon Marsh (knee) ran pregame and was available on an emergency basis. … Ranger Suarez arrived in Philadelphia as part of the next step in his rehab. He’ll throw a bullpen on Saturday. Thomson figures he’ll need at least two more appearances to be ready to return to the big leagues, taking him from 54 pitches in his last outing with Clearwater to 75, then 90. … Weston Wilson (oblique) will play first base at Lehigh Valley Friday, then be the designated hitter Saturday before playing left field Sunday. He’s 4-for-20 with a double and a triple in six minor-league games.
