Tag: José Alvarado

CINCINNATI — Each time a Reds player clubs a home run at Great American Ball Park, fireworks are released from the smokestacks in the outfield.

By the end of the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 11-5 Phillies loss, it was fair to wonder if Cincinnati’s supply might be running low. Because the Reds blasted four homers in the inning, including three consecutive off lefty Tanner Banks, leading to a lot of pyrotechnics.

Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and JJ Bleday went back-to-back-to-back off poorly located pitches from Banks, who took over for Alan Rangel with one out in the inning. Rangel, who was recalled earlier on Wednesday to start the Phillies’ bullpen game, had already given up a leadoff homer from Noelvi Marte to start the fourth.

“At the end of the day,” Banks said, “I just need to be better at making those pitches.”

The blowout exposed two glaring weaknesses on the Phillies roster: a lack of depth in starting pitching and left-handed relief pitchers. It marked the club’s ninth consecutive loss in games started by the fifth spot of the rotation, a streak that includes Andrew Painter’s last five appearances before he was optioned in June.

While the front end of their rotation has multiple aces, the Phillies do not have a true No. 5 starter. And the lack of depth means the team would be in a truly precarious position in the event of an injury.

But what really doomed the Phillies on Wednesday was the Reds running up the score on two of their three left-handed relievers. After Banks’ collapse in the fourth, José Alvarado also gave up four runs in the sixth inning. Banks and Alvarado left the ballpark dragging ERAs of 7.14 and 7.03, respectively.

“Tonight, it didn’t look very good. We’ve really probably been searching for that more than anything through the course of this season,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.

After Kyle Backhus was optioned on Tuesday following his own struggles, Tim Mayza is the only other left-handed option in the Phillies’ pen. Mayza pitched a scoreless eighth after sidestepping a double.

Mayza, who was a nonroster invitee to spring training, lowered his season ERA to 2.81. But the Phillies need more than just one reliable lefty reliever.

The expectations were high for Banks and Alvarado entering the season. In 2025, Banks had pitched his way into higher-leverage opportunities with a 3.07 ERA. But this season, he is experiencing more frustration than at any point of his career.

“I think if I were to try to put my finger on one thing, I would say maybe a bit of … being a one-trick pony,” Banks said. “Like throwing a lot of the same stuff in the same place, and it’s hard to get someone out when you’re doing the same thing over and over again.”

Banks said he feels like this year, he has given hitters the same look too many times in the same at-bat, which allows them to adjust and square him up.

“He’s just missing, not getting the ball where he’s trying to get it to,” Mattingly said.

The manager views Alvarado’s struggles somewhat differently. The lefty struggled to find the zone Wednesday, issuing consecutive walks to start the sixth inning. A single, another walk, and a bases-clearing double sank the Phillies into a seven-run hole before Alvarado could end the rally with a strikeout.

But Mattingly pointed to Alvarado’s batting average on balls in play of .449 — a career high — as an explanation for his overall numbers this season.

“Alvy’s been, I’d say, more inconsistent than bad,” Mattingly said. “His stuff is still good. We were looking at it today, actually. The batted ball stuff is actually not bad. So it looks like he’s probably been better than his numbers show, but still, obviously, he’s been inconsistent with giving up runs.”

Alvarado said he feels healthy, which is what gives him confidence he can bounce back.

“Things are not going my way right now,” he said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “In that regard, it’s just about controlling what you can control, getting back to work, working harder, improving, and let’s just hope things turn around for me.”

The Phillies’ offense had its chances against Reds starter Chase Burns. The 23-year-old, who is poised to make his first All-Star appearance next week, issued a career-high six walks. But those walks — plus three hits — only translated to three runs, slightly raising Burns’ season ERA to 2.54.

In total, the Phillies left 10 men on base. J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber each hit solo home runs off Cincinnati relievers, but the two big innings against Banks and Alvarado put the game out of reach.

“I’ll never give up,” Alvarado said. “It’s just going out there, giving the best of myself every time I’m on the mound. I’ve been through this before. I’ve gotten out of this before.”

José Alvarado thought the inning was over.

The Mets had already scored one run against the Phillies reliever to break the 3-3 tie in the seventh, and threatened for more with two runners on. But Marcus Semien fouled a cutter back into J.T. Realmuto’s glove for what Alvarado thought was an inning-ending strikeout, and he started to walk off the mound.

Home plate umpire Brian Walsh checked the ball and found a dirt mark on it, proving that it had touched the ground before entering Realmuto’s glove. It gave the Mets second baseman a new life. And Semien made the most of it, sending Alvarado’s next pitch to the center field wall, above a jumping Justin Crawford.

“It ends up being the right call,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “Not a call I like, but the right call.”

What was nearly an inning-ending strikeout instead became a bases-clearing triple, putting the Mets ahead to beat the Phillies, 6-4, in Thursday’s series opener. Alvarado, whose season ERA has risen to 6.58, was charged with the loss.

Alvarado was nearly out of the inning even before that. He had allowed a leadoff single to start the seventh inning, but battled back to induce a line out and pop out, respectively, from Bo Bichette and Juan Soto, who had been the Mets’ most dangerous hitter all night. He then brought pinch-hitting Mark Vientos to a 1-2 count.

But Alvarado lost his command, throwing three straight cutters in the dirt to walk Vientos. He allowed another pinch-hitter to reach when Eric Wagaman singled, bringing up Semien.

“Hitters feel confident that they can hit against me right now,” Alvarado said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “It seems like 100 mph is something they see a lot at this level. It’s not surprising anymore. They’re just hitting well against me right now.”

All three hits Alvarado gave up on Thursday came on his sinker. Hitters are batting .333 against the pitch this year, and .268 on his cutter.

After the Phillies optioned fellow lefty Tanner Banks earlier on Thursday, it is more crucial that Alvarado turns his season around. Alvarado and Tim Mayza are the Phillies’ only left-handed options on the roster, though Kyle Backhus (left elbow inflammation) is progressing on his rehab assignment and is nearing a return.

“We’re a nick away from catching strike three, just touches the ground. So we just keep paying attention to him,” Mattingly said of Alvarado. “But, I mean, the ball’s coming out, it’s not like he’s down in velo or anything like that. Just got to get the ball to the right spots.”

It didn’t help that the Phillies’ bats went cold after the fourth inning. After the Mets jumped out to an early lead against starter Aaron Nola, courtesy of a pair of solo homers from Soto and an RBI double A.J. Ewing hit over Brandon Marsh’s head in right field, the Phillies chipped away to tie it in the fourth.

Trea Turner was hit by a sweeper in the leg in the bottom of the first, and he scored on a single from Alec Bohm. Turner was later taken out of the game with a bruised right calf.

“He said he had trouble on defense, felt like he was a liability on defense, so he couldn’t really move,” Mattingly said, adding that he hoped the day off Friday would help Turner be ready for Saturday night’s game.

Bohm delivered another RBI in the third, doubling to drive in Kyle Schwarber and cut the Mets’ lead to 3-2. The Phillies’ designated hitter had reached first on a dropped third strike from Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, and advanced to second when Alvarez botched the throw to first.

In the fourth, Derek Hill tied the game at 3, singling up the middle to drive in Bryson Stott. But that proved to be the Phillies’ final hit until the ninth inning, as the bats fell mostly silent against the Mets bullpen.

Nola allowed seven hits, but he limited the Mets to three runs to keep his team within striking distance. Seth Johnson and Bryse Wilson, who both had been recalled earlier on Thursday, each appeared in relief. Johnson retired the side in order in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts on his 99-mph fastball, while Wilson pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth after the Mets took the lead against Alvarado.

“Seth was good tonight,” Mattingly said. “He’s been throwing the ball good in triple A, one of the best relievers in triple-A baseball. So stuff was good, threw in the strike zone, attacked, so it was good.”

Down to their final out in the ninth, the offense showed a little life. Gabriel Rincones Jr., pinch-hitting for Hill, delivered the Phillies’ first hit since the fourth on an infield single to Bichette. Crawford followed it up with an RBI single to bring up Schwarber, representing the winning run with two on base.

Schwarber worked a 2-2 count against Devin Williams, and hit a sharp liner, 104.6 mph off the bat, but it was straight at right fielder Brett Baty for the final out.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — During Tuesday morning’s bullpen sessions at the Phillies’ Carpenter Complex, José Alvarado and Jhoan Duran were pitching at opposite flanks of the seven-pack of mounds.

It was an early look at likely the two hardest-throwing relievers in the Phillies’ 2026 bullpen, who only were able to team up for exactly 24 days last season. The Phillies acquired Duran at the trade deadline in July, while Alvarado was away from the team serving an 80-game suspension for a positive performance-enhancing drug test.

He returned in August, but only pitched in eight games before a left forearm strain ended his season. He was ineligible for the playoffs due to the PED suspension.

Now healthy and back in camp, Alvarado does not want to dwell on the past.

“I know everything that passed last year, I want to say last year is over,” Alvarado said. “I prepare for coming healthy in this spring. I’m so happy for me, what I see in this spring now. Keep working hard and never give up.”

This winter, the Phillies picked up the $9 million club option on Alvarado’s contract for 2026. The 30-year-old lefty will be a free agent after this season.

Alvarado said he ramped up slower with his throwing program this offseason, with fewer bullpen sessions and live at-bats than he’s typically done by this point. According to Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham, that was planned out of caution for Alvarado’s forearm.

“I wouldn’t use the word behind, but it’s just more intentional with the build-up,” Cotham said. “He’s normally overly prepared. Now it’s just more a normal build-up.”

Alvarado is also planning to represent Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic in March, which will help accelerate his ramp-up.

At this point in the spring, bullpen sessions aren’t so much focused on velocity, since pitchers are still building up and, in some cases, experimenting. Alvarado has been working on his four-seam fastball. He relies almost exclusively on his sinker-cutter mix, but in past springs, he has also toyed with bringing back his curveball and four-seamer, both of which he threw more when he first broke into the big leagues.

So far, they haven’t really stayed in his arsenal when the regular season starts. In a limited sample size of 26 innings due to his abbreviated 2025 season, Alvarado threw 22 curveballs (4.8% of his pitches) and six four-seamers (1.3%). When he did throw the four-seam, it averaged 99.6 mph.

“I’m not very confident on that pitch, because when it’s game time, it’s different energy. It looked good,” Alvarado said of his four-seam after a recent bullpen session. “ … Every result I see right now is good. I am in a good spot right now; I need to keep it like that.”

Will the four-seam stick around this time?

“I think a lot of times things that stick are things that work,” Cotham said. “So I think the avenue for me in getting it to stick is he’s got to feel good with it, but it’s also got to work. And we got to work to help him, and find the spots with [catcher] J.T. [Realmuto] and when not to throw it.”

The four-seam can give Alvarado another tool for certain right-handed hitters who handle sinkers well. Cotham also said that working on the four-seam can also help Alvarado fine-tune his other, bread-and-butter fastball.

“It’s also a nice way to keep the sinker calibrated, because he can feel the difference in the four-seam, sinker,” he said. “He’s a guy where the sinker can fly similar to a four-seam sometimes. So actually keeping those both in practice helps keep the sinker going.”

The Grapefruit League, which starts for the Phillies on Saturday, will provide an opportunity for Alvarado to mix in the four-seam to test it out in games.

“Alvy’s a guy where … there’s a lot of feel to his game and wanting to feel the delivery,” Cotham said. “So if he feels good with it, what I tell him is, I’m in. It’s just a matter of when and why, where we use it.”

Extra bases

Brandon Marsh was a full participant in batting practice Tuesday after a cut on his foot limited him the day before. “He’s full go,” Thomson said.