CINCINNATI — The revolving door in the Phillies bullpen continues to twirl.
Ahead of Thursday’s series finale against the Reds, Tanner Banks was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm strain, and right-hander Chase Shugart was recalled in his place.
On Wednesday night, Banks allowed three consecutive homers to the top three batters in Cincinnati’s order — Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and JJ Bleday — as his struggles this season reached a new low. After posting a 3.07 ERA in 2025 and working his way into higher leverage opportunities, Banks has been unable to find his stride this year. His 7.14 ERA is currently the highest on the team, although fellow left-hander José Alvarado — who also allowed four runs Wednesday — is not far behind at 7.03.
The move leaves the Phillies with just two left-handers in their bullpen: Alvarado and Tim Mayza. Kyle Backhus was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley earlier this week after going through struggles of his own.
Interim manager Don Mattingly said that he first heard Banks had been dealing with fatigue in his forearm after he was optioned to triple A in June, but was able to pitch through it at that point.
“Just talking to him on the bus last night, it sounds like he was OK during the game, but he was having trouble getting moving and getting it going every day,” Mattingly said. “So that kind of told us something’s going on, and obviously it’s affecting a little bit with balls coming out, so felt like it was time to find out what’s going on.”
Mattingly believes the strain might have been affecting Banks’ performance this year. He said that Banks has undergone testing, and the Phillies hope to have more information after receiving the results.
“I think that’s probably what we’re kind of seeing. This is a possibility that this is what’s been causing some of the lack of command and things like that,” he said.
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly told ESPN Wednesday that he would be willing to remain at the helm beyond this season, if asked.
Mattingly willing to become permanent manager
Mattingly, who took a 42-23 record into Thursday’s series finale against the Reds since taking over as interim Phillies manager from the fired Rob Thomson in April, told ESPN Wednesday that he would be willing to remain at the helm beyond this season, if asked.
Mattingly had been prepared to retire after stepping down from the Blue Jays bench coach job following last year’s World Series. But he changed his mind after being offered the Phillies’ bench coach role, which came with the chance to work under his son, Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly.
“I like doing it,” Don Mattingly said. “I didn’t come here to do it, but I actually like doing it. And I’d committed two years. In my mind, I told Dave [Dombrowski] two years, right? So at that point you make a commitment with your family and what’s going on with everything, that you’re going to do this for two years. So if that’s something that Dave wanted me to do, I would be fine with it.”
Extra bases
Aaron Nola (3-6, 5.87 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty (2-8, 4.60).
CINCINNATI — Interim manager Don Mattingly briefly considered putting Brandon Marsh back at leadoff.
The No. 1 spot in the lineup was vacant on Wednesday against the Reds as Trea Turner was due for a day off. The Phillies shortstop has been “a little banged up in the lower half,” according to Mattingly.
Marsh previously batted leadoff against the Marlins on June 16, while Turner was down with a bruised wrist. But this time, Bryce Harper — who typically prefers to hit No. 3 — went to hitting coach Kevin Long and volunteered to lead off against righty Chase Burns.
It marks Harper’s first time in the leadoff spot since Sept. 8, 2025.
“I don’t mind it,” Mattingly said. “I mean, he comes up quicker than anybody else.”
Marsh instead moved to No. 3 in the order, offering protection to Kyle Schwarber at No. 2. The Phillies stacked four straight lefties — Harper, Schwarber, Marsh, and Bryson Stott — at the top of Wednesday’s lineup to combat the right-handed Burns, who entered Wednesday with a 2.40 ERA. The 23-year-old debuted last season and earned his first career All-Star selection this year.
“Hopefully we can just keep throwing those lefties at him, get some hanging sliders, or try to put some damage on him,” Mattingly said.
Brad Keller was activated from the injured list on Wednesday.
Brad Keller reinstated
Right-handed reliever Brad Keller was activated from the injured list on Wednesday to give the Phillies a reinforcement for their bullpen game against the Reds. As a corresponding move, Seth Johnson was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
The Phillies need a reliable setup arm as a bridge to closer Jhoan Duran, and Keller was signed in the offseason to be just that. But Keller, who Mattingly said had been dealing with nagging forearm tendinitis for a while before hitting the injured list, has a 4.15 ERA this year.
Orion Kerkering, who has the most eighth-inning appearances for the Phillies this year, walked the bases loaded on Tuesday night against the Reds. Jonathan Bowlan entered the game and stranded all three runners with a strikeout, but it’s not the only time Kerkering has found himself in that situation recently. Kerkering also walked the bases loaded June 28 against the Mets, though he battled back to end the inning without damage.
“We like him, his stuff is good, but you got to throw strikes to the point where you trust your stuff, and you got to get in the zone,” Mattingly said of Kerkering. “We still like his stuff and where he’s been, but obviously the walks are something you hate seeing late in the game.”
He hopes a fully healthy Keller could be a big asset for the Phillies bullpen.
“The bounce back is different when you’re feeling that kind of stuff, because then the next day, you’re not feeling great, you’re just taking another day to recover, and it’s putting pressure on another guy,” Mattingly said. “So, looking forward to having him healthy, not worried about what his stuff’s going to look like. It’s going to be good.”
Extra bases
Lou Trivino III was placed on the injured list Wednesday with a right thoracic muscle spasm. Alan Rangel was recalled to fill his spot on the 26-man roster and started Wednesday’s bullpen game. … The Abbott Elementary episode that Schwarber appeared in during Season 5 — after hitting four homers in a game — received Emmy recognition on Wednesday. Randall Einhorn was nominated for his outstanding direction for a comedy series for the episode. … Fresh off his All-Star selection, Jesús Luzardo (7-4, 3.75 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday’s series finale against Reds right-hander Brady Singer (3-8, 5.03).
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said Thursday that he hasn’t spoken to Zack Wheeler about his postgame comments from the night before.
But he also isn’t bothered that Wheeler was upset. Wheeler was direct about his frustration at being removed from his start against the Pirates on Wednesday after 4⅔ innings with an 8-3 lead, leaving two runners on base for Kyle Backhus. The righty was at 104 pitches on a hot day, matching a season high, but said he felt he had earned the chance to finish the fifth inning.
Since he departed with two outs in the fifth, he was ineligible to get credit for what ultimately was a 10-6 win.
“I don’t think he wants to talk to me yet. Maybe he’ll settle down, and we’ll talk a bit later,” Mattingly said pregame Thursday. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet. I mean, it really doesn’t bother me at all that he’s upset. I think the great ones never want to come out of the game, and he’s no different.”
Mattingly compared managing Wheeler to managing the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who he said similarly never wanted to be taken out. In this situation, his justification for removing Wheeler in that moment was to protect the rotation as a whole.
Zack Wheeler gave up four runs against the Pirates and was pulled from the game with two outs in the fifth inning on Wednesday.
“Our rotation is obviously a great rotation, but the depth of it is not filled with four Paul Skenes down in the minor leagues ready to pop in and fill the spot,” Mattingly said. “So my job is to make sure that this guy stays available through the course of the season, and we’ve got a long way to go. So I really don’t mind guys being upset, that’s what the greats do, but I still have to make decisions for the whole club.”
Mattingly was concerned that the next batter, Pirates center fielder Jake Mangum, would work a long at-bat, driving up Wheeler’s pitch count even further. Pittsburgh had already fouled off 20 of Wheeler’s pitches on Wednesday.
Backhus took over and hit Magnum with a pitch. He also hit the next batter to force in a run charged to Wheeler.
Mattingly said the fact that Wheeler was one out away from becoming eligible for his ninth win of the season did not factor into his decision. Wheeler, whose ERA crept up to 2.36 after Wednesday’s start, has been forthright about his ambition to win a Cy Young Award.
“I think more about the situation that we’re in as a club. I think it probably helps that nowadays wins aren’t really a big thing anymore,” Mattingly said. “It used to be that you’d let that guy try to finish it. And in a different time, you may be letting the guy throw 130 [pitches], but that’s not the time we’re in. That’s not the situation that we’re in right now.”
Phillies manager Don Mattingly said of Zack Wheeler: “I really don’t mind guys being upset, that’s what the greats do, but I still have to make decisions for the whole club.”
Mattingly added that he doesn’t expect this frustration to linger. When things cool off, he wants to discuss the move with Wheeler, but it also won’t change how he manages.
“I want to know his feelings on it, and all that stuff, but I’m still making the decision based on the club and the team and moving forward, where we want to go,” Mattingly said. “So I don’t mind him hearing my side of it. I don’t mind hearing his side of it, and, again, just have to deal with being mad about it or doesn’t like it. I understand it, but I still have to do what I have to do.”
Extra bases
Brad Keller (right forearm tendinitis) is scheduled to start a rehab assignment Friday with triple-A Lehigh Valley in Rochester, N.Y. … Following Friday’s off day, Jesús Luzardo (6-4, 3.88 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Zack Wheeler was hot, and not just because of the heat.
Wheeler labored through 4⅔ innings Wednesday night in a 10-6 Phillies victory over the Pirates, and upon being lifted after 104 pitches, he walked off mound as if he didn’t hear the crowd’s obligatory ovation.
It was Wheeler’s shortest start since June 16, 2024 at Baltimore and snapped a streak of 53 starts in which he completed at least five innings.
Did the Phillies’ co-ace — the highest-paid pitcher in baseball this season with a $42 million salary — want interim manager Don Mattingly to give him a chance to get through the fifth again?
“Obviously,” Wheeler said. “I feel like I’ve earned that.”
Wheeler said he hadn’t talked it over yet with Mattingly. Asked if he planned to, he said, “I don’t know.”
Informed by a team spokesperson of Wheeler’s comments, Mattingly, who has steered the Phillies to a 40-19 record since taking over for fired Rob Thomson, deferred a response until Thursday. It’s the first real test of his leadership.
Zack Wheeler was not happy with being taken out of the game before the end of the 5th tonight. pic.twitter.com/64kUsHmZQo
By not finishing the fifth inning, Wheeler was ineligible to get credit for the win. At the discretion of the official scorer, the win went to reliever Orion Kerkering, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
To be fair, Wheeler had chances to get out of the fifth inning. After getting two quick outs, he gave up back-to-back singles to Esmerlyn Valdez and Ryan O’Hearn. With Wheeler’s pitch count up to 101 and action in the bullpen, pitching coach Caleb Cotham — not Mattingly — made a mound visit.
Wheeler stayed in the game, and three pitches later, gave up a bloop RBI single to Nick Gonzales. At that point, having matched his season-high for pitches in a start and pitching in oppressive heat (96 degrees at first pitch), Wheeler was lifted.
Lefty reliever Kyle Backhus hit back-to-back batters to force in a run that was charged to Wheeler, whose final line was four runs, nine hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. His ERA inched up from 2.03 to 2.36.
“I thought Wheels hung in there,” Mattingly said. “It was one of those nights that his pitch count got extended early, and he didn’t get ahead in the count as much as I’m sure he would like. He gave up some soft contact for hits that just extended his pitch count. It was one of those nights.”
Wheeler, 36, has made a wildly successful return after surgery last September in which a rib was removed to relieve a compressed vein near his collarbone. Earlier Wednesday, before a matchup with Pirates ace Paul Skenes, Mattingly suggested Wheeler might actually be underrated for a two-time Cy Young Award runner-up.
“I don’t think people quite realize how good this guy is,” Mattingly said. “I just don’t think they realize. Within the industry, for sure. But with fans, he’s a quiet guy. There’s not a lot of hype around him. He just kind of just constantly pitches well. And I just want to keep his attention talked about like other guys.”
The Phillies returned to Citizens Bank Park for Monday’s series opener against the Pirates a season-high 10 games above .500.
It’s a far cry from where they were in April, as they tumbled as far as 10 games under .500 on April 26. But their improbable rebound has made them the first team in baseball history to bounce back from 10 games under .500 to 10 games over .500 before the end of June.
Now, they’ve all but erased their dismal start. At the 84-game mark last year, the Phillies had a 49-35 record, and would go on to finish with 96 wins and win the division. This year, they are 47-37 at the same point.
“This is a 96-win club last year, this is not a club that didn’t show up every day and play every day,” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “You win 96 games, you’re playing good baseball, so nothing that you really didn’t expect to happen is happening. Just want to keep it going.”
Not only that, but the Phillies have closed within three games of the Braves for the lead in the National League East. It’s a gap that was as wide as 10½ games in May.
NL East standings
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It’s helped out that the Braves’ early-season dominance has somewhat faltered, with Atlanta posting a 9-13 record so far in June. But the Phillies have managed to capitalize, and a chasm that seemed insurmountable a month ago is shaping into a race again, with two series remaining between the teams in September.
“I wasn’t really looking at Atlanta,” Mattingly said. “I was looking more at us getting back to .500 at first, then to five [games over .500], and then trying to get to 10, and now trying to get to 15, and wherever you end up landing is where you land, but obviously you want to win the division. But still day to day, and so much baseball to be played.”
Right fielder Adolis García was at the ballpark on Monday to get checked out after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn lat on Wednesday.
García, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal in the offseason, spent time catching up with his teammates behind the batting cage pregame. His rehab is expected to take place primarily at the Phillies’ facilities in Clearwater, Fla.
“He’s just coming in to see where he’s at. He’s had surgery a few days ago, he’s not going to be able to do a whole lot, but it’d be good to see him,” Mattingly said.
Starting pitcher Andrew Painter will likely make his next start for Lehigh Valley on Saturday.
Painter’s next start
The Phillies haven’t officially announced when Andrew Painter will make his next start for triple-A Lehigh Valley, but Mattingly said he expects the righty will remain on a regular schedule.
With the minor leagues having a day off built into their schedule each Monday, that means joining a six-day rotation, which would line up Painter to next appear on Saturday in Rochester.
“Unless they want to move him, or there’s a reason for us to move him to keep him on a certain day to match up with certain guys,” Mattingly said. “So, in general, I think he’s just one of the boys down there and working on his craft and getting it together.”
Mattingly said pitching coach Caleb Cotham’s report was that Painter was OK in his first appearance after getting optioned, in which he allowed one run over four innings.
“Still felt like some of the things that they talked about implementing, he’s starting to be able to do that,” Mattingly said. “We just let it play out now.”
Tommy Pham made his first appearance for the Florida Complex League Phillies on Monday after signing a minor league deal with the organization. Pham, who the Phillies picked up as outfield depth after he was released by the Orioles, went 2-for-2 in the Complex League game.
The 38-year-old outfielder has a .256 career average and .764 OPS across 13 seasons and 10 teams. He went hitless in 13 at-bats across nine games with the Mets this April before being released and catching on with the Orioles’ triple-A affiliate.
“I know Tommy from the past; I always liked Tommy, he gives you good at-bats,” Mattingly said. “I don’t know what the plan is other than to see where it goes and how he’s swinging and how he’s performing, and what we need.”
Extra bases
Gabriel Rincones Jr. was back in the lineup Monday against right-hander Braxton Ashcraft after sitting in the series finale against the Mets. Rincones has a .118 batting average in 32 major league at-bats. “[Sunday] was more of a day off, and kind of a little bit of a reset for Rico, see where it goes,” Mattingly said. … Cristopher Sánchez (9-3, 2.13 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler (3-7, 4.42) on Tuesday.
NEW YORK — Don Mattingly has lived through his share of managerial firings by the baseball teams in this city.
“Oh really?” he said, smiling.
Indeed, in 14 seasons with the George Steinbrenner-era Yankees, Mattingly played for eight managers, including Billy Martin three times and Lou Piniella twice. The Boss fired a manager midway through a season five times in Mattingly’s career.
And even if that wasn’t the case, Mattingly is managing the Phillies right now only because president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired Rob Thomson on April 28 after a 9-19 start.
Surely, then, Mattingly must have thoughts on the Mets’ decision Friday to can manager Carlos Mendoza amid a six-game losing streak and with the third-worst record (34-47) in the National League.
Oh, and just in time for a visit from the Phillies.
“We don’t know what’s been going on over there, and we’ve got enough stuff to deal with ourselves,” Mattingly said. “So, I kind of just get back to the coldhearted [viewpoint]. If I’m hitting, I need to get a good pitch to hit and I need to hit it hard. If I’m playing [defense], I need to make baseball plays for the situation of the game.
“I don’t worry about what’s going on with them.”
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said he does not get caught up in other organizations’ personnel decisions.
For the Phillies, the managerial change served as a pivot point in the season. But as Mattingly notes, it had less to do with a difference between him and Thomson than with better starting pitching. The offense has started to come around, too.
The Phillies were 36-15 under Mattingly — and 45-36 overall, a 90-win pace at the mathematical midpoint of the season entering Friday night.
It may be too late for the Mets to save their season. But maybe they’ll get a boost under interim manager Andy Green, who was promoted after spending the past 2½ seasons as farm director.
Like Mattingly, Green didn’t expect to be in this position. Green has managed previously in the majors, steering the Padres to a 274-366 record from 2016-19.
“I just think it [feels like] you are where you’re supposed to be, right?” Mattingly said. “It just falls into your lap more than anything else, and then you just take it and just do the best job you can.”
Alan Rangel will take the hill Saturday for the Phils.
Rangel ready
Two and a half hours before Friday night’s game began, Alan Rangel stepped out from the Phillies’ dugout and took a photo of Citi Field.
He will pitch here Saturday.
Mattingly said the Phillies were still deciding if Rangel will start the game or enter after an opener. Either way, it will be his latest audition for what amounts to the Phillies’ fifth-starter spot.
It will mark Rangel’s second turn since replacing demoted righty Andrew Painter. The 28-year-old righty, released as a minor leaguer with the Angels in 2024, came in after opener Tim Mayza on Monday night in Washington and allowed one run in five walk-free innings.
“He’s got an interesting mix, honestly,” Mattingly said. “[Commanding the ball] up-down is a mix that you’ve seen work in the game with different guys. You don’t have to be throwing 100 to have success, and he’s got a mix that can work. He has stuff to get people out.”
Painter, meanwhile, is scheduled to start Sunday for triple-A Lehigh Valley. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Painter throw primarily fastballs. It’s essential for him to regain confidence in his heater after opponents batted .404 and slugged .660 against it in the majors.
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner has begun to heat up slightly.
Extra bases
Mattingly on struggling Trea Turner, who went 6-for-20 in four games in Washington to raise his average to .231 and OPS to .618: “I think Trea’s fine. I mean, when do we decide that he’s there? When he’s getting two hits a night for 10 straight days? He’s getting his hits.” … Rangel will be opposed at 4:10 p.m. Saturday by Mets righty Christian Scott (2-0, 3.10 ERA). Scott, the Mets’ fifth-round pick in 2021, and Painter were teammates at Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
We will learn to believe in these Phillies. These Bryce Harper Phillies. These Kyle Schwarber Phillies. These Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez Phillies.
We will learn that, while they might occasionally lose, they are never defeated.
We will learn that, until the last strike of the last out is recorded, they have not yet lost.
We came to learn this about the core of these Phillies in the dead of summer in 2022, and perhaps we should relearn it as summer begins in 2026. Then, they sparked a drive to the World Series with a handful of exhilarating victories. Now, after a wild midweek series in Washington, they might be doing the same.
We will come to accept that, as long as Harp and Schwarbs and Wheels and Sanchey are active and competing and leading the charge, the rest will follow until the very end.
That quartet might not be the best players in baseball, but they are always the best players they can be, and that’s often all that matters, because it inspires their peers to be the same. That’s how the Phillies manage comeback miracles like they produced in D.C. this past week.
Bryce Harper flashed a finger — which he clarified was his ring finger — toward the upper deck in right field as he rounded the bases of his go-ahead two-run homer on Thursday in Washington.
Then, incredibly, it happened Thursday night, too, a 10-5 thriller that launched them to Queens for three against the last-place Mets, who, despite the presence of duplicitous error machine Bo Bichette, have lost six in a row, costing manager Carlos Mendoza his job on Friday.
They won three of four in D.C. Wheeler was scheduled to start Friday in New York.
“We’re coming. Watch out,” Harper told 94 WIP radio. “Obviously, we have a great ball club.”
Great? Maybe.
The momentum is palpable.
Why?
Because the Phillies hit go-ahead home runs in each of the ninth innings of those games, the first time that’s happened in Major League Baseball history.
Harper, scorching, was in the middle of it all Thursday.
Down 5-0 in the fifth, Harper beat out an infield single and scored the first run on Brandon Marsh’s third home run of the four-game series. Harper drove in the third run in the seventh with a 3-2 bases-loaded walk that began a three-run, game-tying frame. Then Harper drove in the go-ahead runs with a 390-foot blast to left-center, the surest sign that Harper’s hot: When he’s going “oppo,” he’s unstoppable.
Harper is 13-for-31 with three homers and seven RBIs in his last eight games. The Phils entered the weekend having won five of six and sit four games behind the idle Braves, the closest they’ve been to the top of the NL East since tax day, when Rob Thomson was still their manager.
They were 9-19 when Thomson was fired 12 days later, and they’re 36-17 since bench coach Don Mattingly took over as interim manager. Maybe it’s been addition by subtraction. More likely, it’s coincidence, since this core group of Phillies has been winning in heart-stopping fashion since it came together in 2022, when the Phils fired Joe Girardi and Thomson took over as interim manager.
The DNA of this club seems independent of its boss.
“Each team is different,” Harper told reporters afterward. “It’s how we are. It’s who we are.”
There were other big moments from big names Thursday, and all week, really. Schwarber, who didn’t start Tuesday or Wednesday, worked a 10-pitch, two-out, pinch-hit walk in the ninth on Wednesday that framed a bigger moment for a lesser player. Trea Turner put his season from hell on hold for the ninth inning Tuesday, when his two-out single began an eight-run inning in which his second two-out single drove in the eighth run.
How could something like this possibly happen again Thursday?
“You’ve got to keep fighting back,” Harper said.
Sánchez stumbled to a 5-0 deficit after 2⅔ innings but stabilized and faced just one batter over the minimum in recording the final seven outs. That preserved the bullpen, as four relievers pitched a scoreless inning apiece. José Alvarado finally looked untouchable in the seventh, and Orion Kerkering, who’d blown a save two days earlier, earned the win when, in the eighth, he stranded a leadoff double at second base and preserved the tie.
It is contagious.
How contagious?
Derek Hill celebrates his two-run home run during the ninth inning on Wednesday.
Derek Hill, who was Wednesday’s hero with a pinch-hit, go-ahead, ninth-inning homer, padded the lead Thursday with a two-run shot for a five-run lead. He’s a journeyman outfielder who has been a Phillie for just two weeks, the roster replacement for the Phils’ latest free-agent outfield bust, Adolis García, who had latissimus dorsi repair surgery and is done for the season.
How contagious?
Edmundo Sosa had the first homer, double, and five-RBI night of his eight-year career in Tuesday’s 14-9 win, when they erased a two-run deficit in the ninth. Sosa has a knack for the dramatic. He ended May with a two-run homer in the eighth inning to complete a late comeback in Los Angeles.
How contagious?
Bryson Stott’s three-run homer on Tuesday was his first go-ahead homer in the ninth inning in four years.
“We just have that never-quit mentality,” said Brandon Marsh, the team’s most consistent hitter this season.
Marsh padded his unlikely All-Star resume with a two-run shot in the ninth inning Tuesday that re-tied the game, 8-8, and set up Stott’s moment. Marsh was 9-for-14 and scored five runs in the three comeback wins.
Marsh knows of what he speaks because he’s lived this life before. It’s all he’s ever known, really.
Marsh landed in Philly as a deadline trade piece in 2022 from the Angels having played just 163 games in the majors. He landed in the middle of the Phillies’ crucial surge.
It began July 25, when Stott’s three-run home run in the eighth inning gave the Phillies a 6-4 lead over the visiting Braves. That was the first of 13 wins in 15 games, which allowed them to play .500 ball the rest of the season and still reach the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Bryson Stott (right) hit the go-ahead three-run homer on Tuesday in the Phillies’ 14-9 comeback win over the Nationals.
It was the first of five games in that span that crackled with late-game electricity.
On July 29, in the top of the 10th inning, Rhys Hoskins ripped an 0-2 fastball 410 feet over the centerfield wall in Pittsburgh for a 4-2 win. The next night, again in the 10th, Hoskins put a ball in play that the Pirates threw away, and that was the difference.
On Aug. 3, the day after Marsh became a Phillie, he was in Atlanta and saw J.T. Realmuto drive in Hoskins with a fielder’s-choice grounder to tie it at 1 in the eighth, then saw the next batter, Nick Castellanos, blast a two-run game-winner.
A week later the Phils managed six hits and three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win, 4-3, over the visiting Marlins.
Does this recent competence mean that the Phillies will reach the World Series this season? Not necessarily.
What it means is, with this Core Four, the faithful should never forsake the season … and they should watch every game until the very last out.
WASHINGTON — The Phillies have their first All-Star.
Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that interim manager Don Mattingly was named to the National League’s coaching staff for the All-Star Game on July 14. Mattingly was invited by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who is leading the National League squad. The Cardinals’ Oliver Marmol will join Mattingly as an honorary coach.
The Blue Jays’ John Schneider is managing the American League team, and will be joined by the Twins’ Derek Shelton.
Mattingly said that he was a little torn at first about accepting Roberts’ invitation after being Toronto’s bench coach last year and losing to the Dodgers in last year’s World Series. But it was his 11-year-old son Louis who changed his mind.
“I think I’m looking forward to it from Louis’s eyes more than my own, because he was excited about the Home Run Derby and the possibility being on the field,” Mattingly said. “He wanted to go to the game anyway, so it’s pretty cool. … Excited to see it from his eyes, and obviously always seeing the best players. It’s fun to see them in one spot.”
This marks Mattingly’s third All-Star game as a coach. He served on Bruce Bochy’s staff in 2015 and Joe Maddon’s staff in 2017. Prior to that, Mattingly was a six-time All-Star during his playing career.
Also joining Mattingly on the NL staff will be Phillies trainer Paul Buchheit, strength and conditioning coach Morgan Gregory, and clubhouse manager Phil Sheridan. The Phillies’ Kevin Steinhour will serve as the American League clubhouse manager.
Fan voting for position players in the All-Star Game continues next week. Phase 1 of voting concluded Thursday, with the top two finishers at each position and the top six outfielders advancing as finalists. Phase 2 of voting begins on Monday and will close on July 2.
Extra bases
Kyle Schwarber was back in the starting lineup at designated hitter on Thursday. He had been out of the lineup on Tuesday and Wednesday with low back tightness, but felt better toward the end of the game Wednesday and entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. … Alec Bohm was also in the lineup after X-rays came back clean on his foot, which he fouled a ball off on Wednesday night. … Zack Wheeler (7-1, 2.11 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against the Mets.
When Preston Mattingly took a job with the Padres in 2017, his famous dad, Don, was managing the Marlins. After Preston joined the Phillies’ front office in 2022, Don began coaching the Blue Jays.
“You’re in the same industry,” Preston said, “but you’re light-years apart.”
Over the last few years, the Mattinglys figure they were together for a total of about 10 days. So, they need not be reminded, especially on Father’s Day weekend, of the uniqueness of their proximity as the first father-son manager-general manager combination in baseball history.
Last week, Preston Mattingly joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss working with his dad. In addition, he talked about Andrew Painter’s demotion to triple A, the state of the Phillies’ farm system, and preparing for the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcaston Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: The fastball was really Andrew Painter’s bread-and-butter pitch in the minors, especially before he had Tommy John elbow surgery in 2023. Major league hitters are hitting .404 and slugging .660 against it. Why do you think he struggled so much with it during his first experience in the big leagues?
A: Yeah, it’s a good question. I think a lot of different factors go into it, whether it’s his arm slot … I think it ultimately comes down to command. I think when you’re behind in counts, and when you throw balls in the middle of the plate, no matter how hard you’re throwing or who you are, you’re going to get hit. But there’s definitely some things we can clean up in his development plan that he’s going to be working on. But we’ve seen him in the past to where he can command the ball to all four quadrants, the shape on the fastball pre-injury was significantly different, so we’re working as an organization to get back to that.
Q: So, where do you guys go from here for a fifth starter?
A: I think, as an organization, we’ve done a pretty good job over the last few years of coming up with guys, either optionable guys or depth type of arms. I think all options are on the table right now. We feel really good about our pitching, in general, about our pitching depth in terms of our relievers. So, I think there’s different ways to get creative in how we do it. We’re still talking through it as a group, but I’m sure we’ll sit down and put the pieces together how they fall out.
The Phillies are hoping rookie outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr., can give them some production after losing Adolis García for the season to shoulder surgery.
Q: There have been two notable injuries within the last week in Adolis García and Brad Keller. How much do you feel like the depth of the 40-man roster is going to be tested here between those injuries and now Painter going to the minor leagues?
A: Yeah, I’ll touch on the pitching, the Keller side first. Obviously, we felt [his right forearm strain] was pretty minor, and something we, as an organization, we wanted to knock out, not let linger. So, don’t expect him to be out long term. We have some other guys coming back too, as well. Kyle Backhus shouldn’t be too far away here. So, in terms of relievers, we felt really good. I already touched on Andy, and how we’re going to get creative to do that. And then touching on the Adolis injury, obviously unfortunate. He was an elite defender in right field, showed a little bit of strides with the bat, and was getting to some power before the [strained lat muscle near his right shoulder]. But I think we, as an organization, believe in Gabriel Rincones. We’re excited to see him, a lot of good underlying skills that translate to major league success. He’s got to go out and do it. But we feel like he’s a guy that hits the ball really hard. In the minor leagues he put together really quality at-bats, controls the strike zone, and we think he’s got a chance to have some power.
Q: I think there are two factors that make this trade deadline on Aug. 3 fascinating. One is that, in the American League, you have only five teams that are over .500 right now, so a lot of teams that are ordinarily leaning toward the sell column are hanging in there. But really the one that I’m fascinated by is this looming labor fight that we have at the end of the season. Is there any sense yet for whether that’s going to change the market dynamics at all?
A: It’s not something we talk about internally. I think it kind of depends. The next six weeks will [determine] which way teams fall. Obviously, it’s pretty quiet right now. You’re still talking to teams and checking in, and more just having conversations to kind of lay some groundwork. But pretty quiet right now. You have the draft coming, too, so teams are having their focus in a lot of different areas. But I’m sure over the next two to three weeks to a month, things will start to pick up a little bit.
After the Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson (left) on April 28, bench coach Don Mattingly (right) was elevated to interim manager.
Q: What was that first conversation like with your dad after Dave Dombrowski made the decision to elevate him to interim manager after Rob Thomson was fired?
A: It was definitely a unique situation. I know Dave spoke to my dad and talked to him about stepping into the role. I followed him up with a call, and just kind of made sure he was comfortable. And I think the great thing is we’re both here for the same reason, which is to help the organization win a championship. He’s been around the game a really long time. He’s built a lot of relationships with the players in our clubhouse already, so it’s definitely been unique. But it’s been really gratifying, too. I think I’ve said this a couple times, but getting texts from people around the league, in the moment it may have been a little bit … awkward, is maybe the word. But I think after the first couple days it was kind of business as usual. A lot of people around the league said some great things. ‘Just enjoy the moment. It’s not every day you get to work with your dad. And you’ll look back five or 10 years, 20 years later, and remember how special that was.’ So, I definitely have taken that to heart. He’s been great to work with, along with the rest of our coaching staff. So, yeah, it’s been really fun.
Q: Your dad said something when he was hired as bench coach in January about the importance of establishing trust with the players in the clubhouse, that he wasn’t going to go upstairs and talk to you about what was being said there. How have you two gone about navigating that balance?
A: Yeah, it’s definitely a topic that came up. I think we just want to be prepared. Front offices are pretty involved downstairs. We’re around a lot more, probably, than years ago. Obviously, my dad’s a professional. Things that are between him and the players stay between him and the players. We’re not looking to gather information, and, like I said, we’re just looking to try and win, and so there’s none of that going on.
Preston Mattingly (right), with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, has been general manager since 2024.
Q: What has it been like after all those years on opposite sides and different teams in different cities to actually be around each other almost every day?
A: When I was in San Diego, he was in Miami the entire time. I felt like I had two teams to follow. I’ve always followed his teams very closely, probably pretty opinionated on what they should do with their roster, who they should acquire. And then obviously he goes to Toronto and I come to Philly … you feel like you’re in the same industry, but you’re light-years apart. So it’s been great, just the daily conversations. I told somebody a couple weeks ago, over the last three years, just because what I’m doing, what he’s doing, I think I’ve seen him for maybe 10 days. Holidays, a couple days, a special day here, day there. So, it’s been great just to spend time together, have a daily conversation.
I’m sure for him, every off-day at home, he’s come over to my house and enjoyed my family a little bit, which he doesn’t get to see as much. So, just things like that. It’s just really cool to spend time together. Since I left the house at 17, we haven’t really spent much time together. So, it’s just been fun in that regard, and then just working on the same team. Sports are great competition. Working as a group is as good as it gets, so getting to do that with your dad is pretty special.
They gathered at the usual time (shortly before 3 p.m.), in the usual spot (around home plate) for early batting practice. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm were there; J.T. Realmuto, too.
What else did you expect? Yes, the Face of the Phillies prefers the indoor cage for his pregame swings. But Harper felt like launching balls into the seats Saturday and wound up hitting for the cycle a few hours later.
So, there was Harper, hitting on the field again Sunday, and sticking with his 35-ounce “heavy” bat instead of the 31½-ounce model that he ditched the night before. And guess what? Yep, he got three more hits — a triple short of another cycle — in a 6-2 rubber-game victory over the Mets that was powered by another titanic Kyle Schwarber homer.
“I don’t know if that’s translating to the game,” Harper said of the early hitting, the heavier lumber, and seven hits in his last nine at-bats. “Obviously the last two days have been great.”
Surely, Harper wants to bottle this feeling.
But it isn’t only Harper. Or even Schwarber, who has blasted four homers in the last two games, leads the planet with 29, and is on pace to finish with 61, which would be a record for a franchise that has existed for 144 seasons.
The Phillies’ Bryce Harper celebrates after hitting a home run in the fifth inning on Sunday.
As the Phillies capped a winning homestand and caught a train to Washington to play four games this week, the bats are finally revving up. In going 4-2 against the Marlins and Mets, they produced a total of 44 runs on 60 hits, including 11 home runs, five of which came from Schwarber and two from Harper.
“It’s pretty, pretty special,” Zack Wheeler said after allowing two runs in 5⅔ innings. “I mean, it’s pretty cool to see, you know? They’re capable of doing that every day. It’s crazy.
“And we have the guys around them, too, getting on base. They aren’t just solo home runs and stuff. We’re putting good at-bats together and looking like a good, total offense.”
The pitching, notably co-aces Cristopher Sánchez and Wheeler and star closer Jhoan Duran, carried the Phillies from a 9-19 start back into wild-card position.
Now that they’re here, the offense is percolating, led by the Harper-Schwarber Show, just in time for summer.
“That’s kind of what we expect of ourselves as an offense, right?” Harper said. “When we get going and clicking like that, I think when me and Schwarbs have big swings or great at-bats, we’ve got a chance to win games.”
The Phillies won the finale against the Mets by taking advantage of mistakes early, scoring two first-inning runs without a hit out of the infield. Then came Schwarber’s three-run homer in the second inning and Harper’s solo in the fifth.
Harper also doubled in the second inning and singled in the seventh. Was he hoping for one more at-bat to take a shot at another triple for another cycle?
“Absolutely,” he said, laughing. “I’m not going to lie to you. I wanted that last go-around, yeah. No, it was definitely in my head.”
Take a moment to wrap your head around Schwarber’s latest power binge. After launching 456- and 457-foot missiles halfway up the second deck Saturday night, he returned to that territory against Mets lefty David Peterson.
Schwarber hit 46, 47, 38, and 56 homers in his first four seasons with the Phillies. His best power numbers through 77 games: 23 homers, .530 slugging, .909 OPS last year.
This season: 29 homers, .603 slugging, .972 OPS.
There’s no telling how many more Schwarbombs will drop before the All-Star break.
“It is June,” Wheeler said.
Exit velocities of the last five balls in play by Kyle Schwarber:
And everyone knows Schwarber has hit more homers in his career in June (74) than any other month.
Wheeler, meanwhile, kept rolling in his remarkable return from thoracic outlet syndrome. He sidestepped back-to-back singles to open the second inning and shrugged off Carson Benge’s leadoff homer in the third.
After Wheeler walked the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, and with his pitch count up to 101, interim manager Don Mattingly went to the mound.
“Do you have one more hitter?” Mattingly asked.
Wheeler nodded.
“I was a little tired, but I wasn’t too tired to just keep going,” said Wheeler, who has a 2.11 ERA through 11 starts. “I was honest with [former manager] Rob [Thomson], and I’ll be honest with him. I felt like I had more in me.”
Wheeler got a ground ball and a force at second base before Jonathan Bowlan struck out Marcus Semien to finish the inning.
But offense was the theme of the week. And Saturday night, as Harper (cycle) and Schwarber (three homers) put on dueling talent shows against the Mets, Wheeler stood in the dugout and caught himself marveling at all of it.
“It’s hard to kind of take a step back while you’re actually playing and in the moment as somebody watching,” Wheeler said. “You hear about all the greats before you, so to speak, and you watched them as a fan. But I’m actually here watching these guys do some magic and do something special.
“And it’s gone on a long time now. They’re putting together unbelievable careers, and it’s fun to be present and watch it happen live.”
The Harper-Schwarber show, featuring heavy bats and thunderous homers, went on all weekend. The Phillies are counting on an extended run.
