Phillies (64-81) vs. Pirates (70-73)
7:05 p.m. on CSN
Tuesday was setting up to be a good night for the Phillies before disaster struck in the ninth inning. A blown lead prevented the Phils from taking a 2-0 series advantage on the Pirates and Alec Asher from getting a second straight win.
Let's take a look at Game 3.
1. Mighty Quinn
Roman Quinn started for a third straight game last night and all three starts have been at different outfield positions. He played center field Sunday, right field Monday and left field Tuesday. And for the second straight game, Quinn had multiple hits.
Quinn went 2 for 3 with a bunt single, a walk and two runs scored. He's started fast in the majors, going 4 for 10 with two doubles and three walks, reaching base in 7 of 13 plate appearances so far. He'll get plenty of opportunities to keep setting the table for the Phillies this month.
It was telling last night that Pete Mackanin went with his young outfielders and sat Peter Bourjos even though Bourjos had seen Ivan Nova the most and hit him the best (5 for 10, homer). It was a clear sign that this month is about the young guys, as it should be. Any future Bourjos would have here would be as an extra outfielder, so there's really no sense in playing him over Quinn, Aaron Altherr or Odubel Herrera just because it might give you an incrementally larger chance of winning a game, which it probably doesn't anyway.
Quinn's situation is interesting. He's been in pro ball five seasons but hasn't yet played at Triple A because injuries have slowed his development. But if he hits this month and again in spring training, does he really need Triple A seasoning? Why not just carry him on the 25-man roster and play him in the outfield every day? It seems at the moment like Quinn has moved ahead of Nick Williams on the Phillies' organizational outfield depth chart. Quinn's speed, deceptive power and switch-hitting ability could make him a dynamic leadoff option for the Phillies as early as April 2017.
MLB
2. Quiet debut for Alfaro
Catcher Jorge Alfaro made his starting debut for the Phillies last night and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his first two at-bats. His first AB was a three-pitch strikeout and his final two lasted two pitches apiece.
Hey, not everybody begins a career like Gary Sanchez.
"He's only going to get better," pitcher Alec Asher said of Alfaro after the game.
Alfaro is another young player to monitor in the season's final month. The Phillies have three catchers, so he'll have the opportunity to pinch hit without the team losing its backup backstop.
A.J. Ellis hasn't played much since being traded here for Carlos Ruiz. He's started six games, catching Adam Morgan three times and Jeremy Hellickson twice. With Morgan pitching well lately, expect Ellis to continue catching him, but it would behoove the Phillies to get Alfaro some more at-bats and some more time behind the plate calling games at this level.
Alfaro could catch Jake Thompson or Jerad Eickhoff, his former Rangers farm system teammates. And it would also be a good idea to at least once pair Alfaro with a veteran pitcher like Hellickson to gain that experience.
3. Thompson's turn
Thompson has contributed to the Phillies' recent run of starting pitching success. As Jim Salisbury pointed out last night, Phillies starting pitchers have allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 straight games and have a 1.99 ERA over that span. Thompson has been responsible for two of those starts and he's made three good ones in a row.
Since shortening up his wind-up to what's essentially a stretch delivery, Thompson has excelled. He's allowed five runs in 19⅓ innings over his last three starts, pitched seven innings twice and walked just one batter twice. The improved control has been the best sign from Thompson because in his first four starts he looked skittish, especially with men on base, and fell behind in more counts than he got ahead.
Thompson's M.O. is getting groundballs and he's done a lot of that the last three times out. Hitters have put 58 balls in play against him in those starts and it's been a perfect 50-50 split of groundballs and flyballs.
And considering two of those starts for Thompson were against the Nationals, there's reason to now believe he can get outs at this level. That is not an easy lineup to navigate through.
This Pirates team should be easier to pitch to. Starling Marte remains out with a back injury, Andrew McCutchen hasn't been able to turn around his down year, and Gregory Polanco is hitting .219 with a .259 on-base percentage since the All-Star break.
Thompson is 1-5 with a 6.05 ERA in seven starts. He's been much tougher on righties (.222 BA, .756 OPS) than lefties (.293 BA, .904 OPS).
4. Who is Steven Brault?
He's the left-hander the Phillies face tonight, a 24-year-old rookie the Pirates acquired from the Orioles in February 2015 for Travis Snider.
Brault, an 11th-round pick in 2013 out of Regis University in Denver, is 0-2 with a 3.38 ERA in five starts. He's struck out 19 and walked 12 in 24 innings.
Brault went 13-4 with a 2.43 ERA in 28 starts between High A and Double A in 2015, then went 2-7 with a 3.91 ERA in 71⅓ innings at Triple A this season.
He was initially called up this season when Pirates top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow went on the DL at the end of July. Brault made one start, went back down to Triple A, then came up again right before rosters expanded on Sept. 1.
He's made three starts since the recall and allowed no more than three runs in any of them. His outings have been short, though: four, five and five innings.
Brault is a four-pitch pitcher who throws his four-seam fastball and sinker in the 90 to 92 mph range, a slider and changeup. He's thrown the four-seamer 56 percent of the time this season. The slider has not been effective at all — his opponents are 10 for 28 (.393) against it with four doubles and a home run. Brault has had some trouble retiring lefties so far in the majors because he hasn't yet found an out pitch against them.
5. This and that
• Jeanmar Gomez before the All-Star break: 24 saves, two blown saves, 2.59 ERA, .237 opponents' batting average.
Gomez since the break: 12 saves, three blown saves, 5.63 ERA, .320 opponents' batting average.
Gomez is 36 for 41 on the season and has a 3.70 ERA. He seems to be losing some steam, and his repertoire never seemed like one that could keep him effective in the ninth inning for long. It would be a mild surprise if Gomez opened 2017 as the Phillies' closer, as he could be traded before then or demoted in favor of Hector Neris.
• At the beginning of the season, I wrote that the next step for Herrera was getting more extra-base hits. He had 30 doubles, three triples and eight home runs last season and looked capable of getting to the mid-30s in doubles and to double-digits in homers.
Herrera doubled last night, giving him 17. That's just not enough gap power over a full season. He also has five triples and 13 home runs for a total of 35 extra-base hits, six fewer than he had last season.
Through 143 games, Herrera has a .762 OPS, identical to his mark as a rookie. His batting average is 20 points lower this season than it was last, but his on-base percentage is 13 points higher because he's walked 60 times compared to 28 last year.
But so many of those walks came early in the season. From opening day through June 1, Herrera walked 35 times — 15.6 percent of his plate appearances ended with a free pass. Since then, he's walked 25 times, his rate decreasing to 6.9 percent.