Kerkering's struggles atop Phils' bullpen concerns in final postseason push

NEW YORK -- Orion Kerkering sat in front of his locker inside a mostly empty visitors’ clubhouse late Friday night at Citi Field.

He had started the sixth inning of a one-run game against the Mets, but five batters later, he surrendered a three-run home run to Juan Soto to send the Phillies to a 6-3 loss. The Phils (85-69) are tied with the Cubs and Padres for the No. 1 NL Wild Card spot with eight games to play.

“Just a rough last couple months,” Kerkering said.

And time is running out.

The Phillies have issues as the postseason approaches. Jesús Luzardo is on the 15-day injured list because of inflammation in his left shoulder, and nobody knows when he will pitch again. The offense followed a tantalizing August with a disappointing September. They had just six hits on Friday, and are tied for 26th in MLB this month in OPS (.671).

But the bullpen might be the Phillies’ greatest concern. The bridge from starting pitcher to closer Jhoan Duran has been shaky for months. And now, right-hander Jonathan Bowlan is sidelined with a “mild” right groin strain. The Phillies hope he will be back before the end of the regular season, but only time will tell.

It’s why Kerkering’s struggles have been such a disappointment. He has allowed a run in seven of his last eight appearances for an 8.64 ERA (eight earned runs in 8 1/3 innings). He has an 8.83 ERA (18 earned runs in 18 1/3 innings) in 21 appearances since July 22.

“Not sure,” Kerkering said, when asked about it. “Talking to [pitching coach] Caleb [Cotham] a little bit more, mechanically, probably a little bit off. Just trying to figure out still those little kinks to get going.

“It's not who I am. I know I can do better. I know I can do better for this team.”

Friday was Kerkering’s first appearance since last Saturday, when he allowed a hit, an unearned run and walked three in 1 1/3 innings. It was only his second appearance since Sept. 4.

He has been battling turf toe recently -- he had been wearing a walking boot away from the ballpark -- but both Kerkering and interim manager Don Mattingly said it is behind him.

Still, Mattingly has stayed away from Kerkering for one reason or another. Mattingly, for example, used right-hander Chase Shugart in the 10th and 11th innings in a loss to the Braves on Sept. 11 in Atlanta. He said he preferred the matchup there.

It’s a spot that would have been Kerkering’s not too long ago.

“Even though he hasn't been used, it's just because the game wasn't his spot,” Mattingly said.

On Friday, Kerkering allowed a soft single up the middle to start the sixth. He struck out Brett Baty swinging on a 1-2 sweeper, followed by a hard-hit single to left to Luis Torrens to put runners on first and second.

Francisco Lindor struck out swinging on a 3-2 fastball for the second out. But Kerkering threw Soto an 0-1 sweeper over the heart of the plate.

He crushed it.

“The one thing I can't do is look backwards, right?” Mattingly said. “And he can't either. And obviously, with [Bowlan] going down, we're going to need good innings out of [Kerkering]. I thought the ball came out all right today. The breaking ball was good. Obviously, anybody that gives up runs when things aren't going good, your confidence is not sky high. When you're getting all your outs and everything is going smoothly, obviously you feel better. We’ve got to get past that at this point.”

Kerkering’s statistics won’t change much between now and the regular-season finale on Sept. 27, no matter how well he pitches. But maybe this October can help everybody forget, which has been a theme for Kerkering following the errant throw that ended the Phillies’ season in Game 4 of the 2025 NLDS.

“You go on one run in the postseason and everyone forgets what you did during the regular season,” Kerkering said. “You can have a 5.00, 6.00 ERA in the regular season and just go kill it during the postseason. So there's always time to move forward and forget about it. I think [Mattingly] said it well with our [bullpen] meeting on [Thursday]. Just forget what's happened and just keep moving forward.”