Phillies' pitching needs on full display in blowout loss vs. Reds

CINCINNATI -- The Phillies have used 25 pitchers this year.

They’ll use more if they want to win in October.

Their pitching concerns resurfaced in Wednesday night’s 11-5 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Phillies right-hander Alan Rangel allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings. The Phils recalled Rangel from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Wednesday to start a pre-planned bullpen game. They have been without a No. 5 starter since Andrew Painter got optioned last month, stressing a struggling bullpen.

Rangel allowed a game-tying two-run home run to Sal Stewart in the third inning. He allowed a go-ahead homer to Noelvi Marte in the fourth. It wasn’t great, but he kept the Phillies in the game.

“He kind of got where we wanted to go,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.

But things went horribly sideways. Left-hander Tanner Banks replaced Rangel with one out in the fourth. Banks joined the Phillies in July 2024 in a trade with the White Sox. He posted a 3.07 ERA in 69 appearances last season, earning most of his opportunities in high-leverage situations down the stretch.

But this year has been a significant step backward. Banks was optioned on June 18, at which time he sported a 5.86 ERA.

The Phillies recalled him on Saturday. On Wednesday, he allowed three consecutive home runs to Elly De La Cruz, Stewart and JJ Bleday to give Cincinnati a 7-2 lead. Banks became the first Phillies pitcher to allow three consecutive homers in an inning since Mick Abel allowed three straight to Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto in the third inning against the Mets on June 21, 2025.

Banks walked off the mound with a 7.14 ERA.

He said he has never experienced frustration like this.

“You think the ball is going to start turning and rolling the other way,” he said. “If I were to try to put my finger on one thing, I don’t want to say it’s being a one-trick pony, but kind of being a one-trick pony. 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.”

Left-hander José Alvarado allowed four runs in the sixth to make it 11-4. He walked off the mound with a 7.03 ERA. Alvarado has the highest BABIP (.437) of any reliever in baseball (minimum 30 innings) in the past 50 years, so perhaps there is a hint of poor luck at play.

“We’ve looked at kind of what's happened with him, and he has been a guy that's had a lot of soft contact fall,” Mattingly said. “Just trying to figure that out.”

But Alvarado also walked three Reds.

“Things are just not going my way right now,” Alvarado said via team interpreter Diego D’Aniello.

Alvarado said he’s healthy, but he said hitters have become accustomed to high velocity while he has tried to become accustomed to the ABS Challenge System, which has him throwing more pitches over the plate.

“It's not an excuse, it's the way the game has adjusted,” Alvarado said. “I don't want to blame that or say that it's an excuse. … I have been a little bit unlucky, and you know, the results are not there either. Keep going, keep working hard, keep improving, and you know, the second half is really close, so let's just hope that with that we can just turn it around.”

Banks and Alvarado are two of only four pitchers in baseball this season with a 7.00 ERA or higher in at least 25 appearances. If both remain in that stratosphere -- it seems like an impossibility, right? -- it would be the first time the Phillies have two relievers like that since Billy Brewer and Mike Grace in 1999.

But they aren’t the only two lefty relievers struggling for the Phillies. The team optioned lefty Kyle Backhus on Wednesday to make room for right-hander Max Lazar. Backhus had a 5.87 ERA in 17 appearances.

Alvarado, Banks and Backhus have combined for a 6.84 ERA, a 1.82 WHIP and a .921 OPS against.

Thank goodness for lefty Tim Mayza, who has a 2.81 ERA in 36 appearances.

“Probably been searching for that more than anything through the course of this season,” Mattingly said about quality from his lefties. “Obviously, the lefties have not had as much success. Our righties have had actually pretty good success [against] the lefties. I think we have to look at that, and just start trying to match up the best guy right there.”