Bullpen Blows It Again

Brandon Workman made his first appearance as a Phillie on Aug. 22. Since then, he has pitched exactly ONE clean inning, meaning no opposing hitter has reached base. In 10 games with the Phils, he's allowed 16 hits and eight walks in just 10.1 innings and other teams are hitting .348 against him. So why does he keep getting important innings to pitch? 

He did it again Thursday night, with a big assist from Tommy Hunter. The bullpen turned a 6-3 lead into a 7-6 loss. Hunter gave up a walk and two singles in the eighth and was relieved by Workman with two out and the bases loaded. Sterling Marte was the first Marlin to face Workman and he cleared the bases with a double on Workman's second pitch to tie the game. Workman then walked Jesus Aguilar on four pitches before Matt Joyce grounded into a force play.

And then there was the ninth inning. Brian Anderson singled on the first pitch and was replaced with a pinch runner Monte Harrison. Garrett Cooper grounded out and Harrison advance to second. Harrison then stole third and Workman intentionally walked Miguel Rojas, who stole second. Jazz Chilsolm struck out swinging for the second out, and then Jorge Alfaro won the game with a single to center. Alfaro entered the game hitting .204, but he still had two hits on Thursday. 

Workman has been so bad he makes me miss Nick Pivetta. Manager Joe Girardi can't keep sending Workman out in save situations any more. He can't be trusted to hold a lead. For whatever reason, he's not throwing his fastball. He threw 31 pitches, and only four were fastballs that topped 90 mph. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe it's time for Hector Neris to close again. 

And speaking of bad, Jake Arrieta had another brilliant start, which forced the Phils to use four relievers in the first game of a seven-game series over five days. Arrieta needs to go deep into the game, to minimize the damage the bullpen could do. Nope. Didn't happen.

Arrieta slogged through 5.2 innings and threw a mind-numbing 106 pitches. He gave up three runs on five hits and four walks. He followed a great performance against the Mets with this stinker. He's in the last days of this three-year, $75 million contract with the Phillies and I can't wait for that contract to expire. What a colossal waste of money. 

So here's the thing—the Phils are 21-19 and three games out of first. And for whatever reason, they can't seem to beat the Marlins. They're 1-3 against the Marlins and 16-7 agains the rest of the NL East. The play the Marlins six more times in the next four days. To have any shot at the playoffs, the starters will have to pitch deep into games to minimize the damage the bullpen can do. 

But that's going to be difficult to do, since Zach Wheeler won't be able to pitch on Saturday because he somehow injured his right middle finger WHILE PUTTING ON HIS PANTS. How? What? Because it's 2020. (Photo by The Philadelphia Inquirer)