Phillies/Braves series: three players who are hot and three who are not

An injury-depleted Phillies team lost two of three against the Braves in Atlanta this weekend. After an 8-6 win on Friday, the Phils scored just one run over the next two games.

Here’s a look at three players who excelled and three players who struggled:

Hot

1) Trea Turner – Turner hit two home runs for the second consecutive day on Friday, leading the Phillies to their lone win of the series. He also knocked in the only run the team scored in Saturday’s 5-1 loss. (Unfortunately, Turner was as helpless as anyone else in the lineup during Sunday’s 6-0 game.)

Turner’s second home run on Friday was the longest of his career, traveling 459 feet.

“He’s not the biggest man on the planet,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson after Friday’s game. “I don’t know how he hits the ball so far.”

Turner is now hitting .335/.381/.498 (.879 OPS) with seven home runs in 51 games this season. It will be exciting to see him bracketed between Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the lineup again, possibly as early as Tuesday.

2) Alec Bohm – Bohm led the Phillies with four hits in the series, including two doubles to give him an MLB-leading total of 30 on the season. The soon-to-be all star is hitting .296/.346/.487 (.833 OPS) this year.

Bohm will also participate in the home run derby over the all star break.

“I’m just gonna see how many I can hit over the left field fence, basically,” he said on Friday. “In a game, I’m not trying to hit home runs. I’m trying to hit the ball on the middle of the barrel and essentially whatever happens after that happens . . . But in a BP scenario . . . I’m not gonna say it’s a different swing, but it’s probably not the game swing.”

3) Tyler Phillips – The Phillies called Phillips up to the majors on Friday. He’s a bit of a journeyman minor leaguer, drafted in 2015. The Phils claimed him off waivers in 2021 and, in 15 games with the AAA IronPigs this season, Phillips is 7-3 with a 4.89 ERA and 1.41 WHIP.

Most observers figured Phillips was called up to eat innings and preserve the bullpen in the event of a blowout. And that’s exactly what happened on Sunday, when the Braves jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.

Phillips entered the game to start the fifth inning and promptly struck out the side.

Phillips ended up striking out four consecutive batters to start his big-league career. His final line: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K.

“I felt my stomach in my throat,” Phillips said afterwards. “I was choked up after the game. I’m still choked up.”

After Mercado’s ineffective outing, and with Taijuan Walker and Spencer Turnbull on the IL, Thomson was asked if Phillips is an option for the fifth starter role. Thomson was non-committal in his reply: “We have to discuss some things.”

Not

1) Ranger Suarez – After serving up six runs to the Marlins in his previous start, Suarez had another bad outing on Saturday. He allowed six hits and five runs in five innings.

Overall, he’s still 10-3 with a 2.58 ERA and . But it’s fair to wonder if Suarez is suffering some fatigue after logging 108 innings.

“I think there’s probably a little bit of fatigue, and I think there is with all our guys,” Thomson said. “But I don’t think it’s a concern. None of the numbers that we measure are really jumping out at us.”

2) Michael Mercado – Mercado had a tremendous first MLB start against the Chicago Cubs on July 2, allowing one run on two hits over five innings. Sunday’s game went… differently. 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.

“Just couldn’t throw strikes, just couldn’t find the strike zone,” said Thomson about Mercado’s start. “I said to him after he came out, these guys hit a lot of home runs off a lot of really good pitchers. And he said ‘yeah, but I’ve got to throw strikes.’ He understands. For whatever reason, he couldn’t find his release point. This is his first time ever throwing on four days’ rest.”

3) Jose Alvarado – There’s no reason to panic about Jose Alvarado. He has allowed an earned run is just seven of his 38 appearances this season and sports a 1.08 WHIP.

That said, the lefty allowed a three-run homer in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, turning an 8-3 route into an 8-6 save situation for Jeff Hoffman in the ninth.

High-leverage relievers often struggle when they enter games with big leads. It’s a phenomenon I don’t fully understand. But Alvarado should be fine going forward.

Up next

The Phillies are off on Monday. They hope that Schwarber and Harper will return for the three-game series against the Dodgers that begins on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Schwarber will almost certainly be back for Tuesday’s game. Harper’s status is murkier, but it sounds like he’s close.

Zack Wheeler (9-4, 2.74 ERA) will face Bobby Miller (1-1, 6.12 ERA) in the series opener.