PHILADELPHIA — The light show started, Kid Cudi blasted on the speakers, and a guy the Phillies signed to a minor-league contract 15 months ago entered Wednesday night to save another game for the team with the best record in baseball. This was not the first time Jeff Hoffman received this treatment at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies started the fancy entrance last summer when Craig Kimbrel emerged as the team’s set closer. But, for most of Rob Thomson’s time as manager, he has operated a malleable bullpen.
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There was one rule: It had to work.
“It’s easy to buy into something when you see the results right away,” Hoffman said. “I don’t know. If it wasn’t going well, who knows if we’d even still be operating that way. It’s the guys that are doing it. The three or four guys doing it don’t care when they pitch.”
To seal a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thomson went with Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm in the seventh inning, José Alvarado in the eighth, and Hoffman in the ninth. The Phillies have the fourth-best bullpen ERA in baseball. It’s the best in the majors since May 1. It ranks second since June 1. Slice it however you want — the Phillies have created something successful.
The rest of the sport recognized it. Hoffman and Strahm were voted into the All-Star Game by their peers without the traditional statistics that define All-Star relievers. The Phillies believe they can handle every difficult situation in the late innings because they do not have a strict formula.
Relievers have egos. For years, saves were how they got paid. But the Phillies can point to the success of this model — and the buy-in from the pitchers — to make it sustainable. Hoffman and Strahm didn’t need to be closers to make an All-Star team. Strahm has now signed two contracts with the Phillies. Hoffman, a free agent after this season, could land a massive payday. The Phillies have guaranteed Alvarado and Seranthony Domínguez money.
It works in different ways. Kerkering, a rookie, appreciated having the seventh inning of a tight game against a good team. But when Chris Taylor doubled to begin the inning, Kerkering knew the situation.
Shohei Ohtani was going to bat in the inning.
“I looked back and saw Strahm get up, so I knew it was a matchup,” Kerkering said. “It wasn’t because of performance or not trusting me in a big situation. It really was the matchup. Makes 100 percent more sense.”
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The Phillies had Strahm prepared for the spot. Everyone in the bullpen played along with Thomson. “As soon as that phone call was made that he was getting up and getting ready for that at-bat,” Hoffman said, “I knew it was going to be a good matchup.” It was no secret, but the Phillies thought they had an advantage. Ohtani is a singular talent, but one weakness is left-on-left sliders. He’s hit .263 with a .368 slugging percentage against them this season.
A lefty batter has yet to collect a hit against Strahm’s slider this season.
The tying runs were on base. Strahm started Ohtani with a sinker for a called strike. Ohtani whiffed at a slider for strike two. He took a 95 mph heater inside. Strahm came back with a slider — the pitch he wanted. Ohtani struck out.
That's All-Star Matt Strahm to you pic.twitter.com/nRQal2jAq9
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 11, 2024
“That’s kind of the pitch that I’ve developed in my time here with the Phillies,” Strahm said. “So I’ll throw it to anyone.”
It’s why Thomson wanted Strahm there.
“Left on left,” Thomson said. “Strahm with the big slider that he can throw. And he can locate his fastball. I just thought it was a good matchup.”
The Phillies trust those four relievers late in games. They have three weeks to consider whether they need one more high-leverage arm. They used five different relievers in at least four games of last year’s National League Championship Series. Thomson is more aggressive with his bullpen in the postseason. The Phillies considered it a weapon entering that NLCS but all it took was one weak link (Kimbrel) and shakiness from an inexperienced reliever (Kerkering) to derail the thing.
Domínguez and Gregory Soto have had moments of effectiveness in 2024 but they have not thrown consistent strikes. This is a first-world problem — securing a fifth dominant reliever — but the Phillies can be picky at the deadline. Given how they have built this bullpen, it’s reasonable to think they could take a good reliever from another team and optimize him.
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It’s what they did with Strahm, Hoffman and Alvarado. The bullpen’s workload hasn’t been overwhelming thanks to a rotation that pitches deep into games. The relievers know they will be needed more as October inches closer.
“I think that’s what helps us,” Kerkering said. “You’re not abusing all your arms so early in the year.”
Thomson has used most of the relievers in late-game situations. Hoffman has seen far more ninth-inning chances in 2024 than in 2023. He’s acclimated.
“The first few times you’re entrusted with it, it feels like a lot,” Hoffman said. “But as you are trusted more and more with the eighth or ninth inning, I feel like now it’s just like any other inning. I just ask them lefties or righties and I go out and that’s it.”
It is not that simple. The Phillies have just simplified it. It’s not flawless; Alvarado allowed an eighth-inning run but retired Freddie Freeman to begin it, which prevented a bigger rally.
The mix-and-match bullpen is a weapon.
“I feel like it’s important to do that,” Hoffman said. “Because if you have maybe a guy that is never in that eighth or ninth, but he is always in the seventh, that could be a different feel for him. So I think it’s important that everybody’s exposed. Give everybody a couple here and there. Mix through it.
“Because, at the end of the day, who knows who is going to be asked to get those three outs in October. Everybody has to be ready to do it.”
(Top photo of Matt Strahm reacting after he struck out Shohei Ohtani: Heather Barry / Getty Images)
