Eflin (back tightness) to IL; Irvin recalled

May 31st, 2019

LOS ANGELES – Phillies right-hander said Friday that the mid-back tightness that placed him on the 10-day injured list is not a long-term concern.

Eflin, who had been scheduled to pitch Saturday night against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, said he hopes to rejoin the rotation once the IL stint ends on June 7, when the Phillies open a series against the Reds at Citizens Bank Park.

“A few days ago, I just woke up with an extremely tight back, the middle of my back on the right side and it was kind of hard for me to get up out of bed and walk around,” Eflin said. “I really never have experienced anything like this before, so it was a little different just waking up and having a decent amount of pain. But I’ve rehabbed in the last couple of days and it has been loosening up on me. I just think we weren’t comfortable going out tomorrow and risking doing something more when it can go away here in two or three more days.

“I only plan on missing one start.”

The Phillies recalled Triple-A Lehigh Valley left-hander to take Eflin’s place on the 25-man roster, but Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said Friday afternoon at Dodger Stadium that the team has not decided who will start Saturday because they want to see how their bullpen is used Friday and how the Dodgers might set up their lineup Saturday.

It could be Irvin. It could be right-hander Vince Velasquez.

Eflin is 5-5 with a 3.02 ERA in 11 starts. He has allowed more than three earned runs in only two of those starts, making him the Phillies’ best pitcher since the beginning of the season. He allowed three runs in just 3 2/3 innings last weekend against the Brewers in Milwaukee. Kapler said at the time that Eflin had a stomach bug. Eflin and Kapler said Eflin had no back issues in Milwaukee.

Irvin is 2-1 with a 5.60 ERA in three starts. He allowed four earned runs in 13 innings in his first two starts against the Royals and Rockies, but he gave up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings last week against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Arano out 2-3 months

Right-hander had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow this week in Los Angeles. He said he will not throw a baseball for three months. Kapler said that timetable is more flexible, meaning he could begin throwing in 2 1/2 months.

Regardless, the Phillies believe there is a chance Arano pitches again this season.

“If I’m a player and you told me you’re going to start throwing sometime between 2 and a half or three months, maybe more, I would say I’m going to beat that,” Kapler said. “If I was Victor Arano I wouldn’t want me to say that we don’t know how long this injury is going to be. He’s going to work his tail off to be ready to help us this season, and when I saw him in the hallway I said, ‘My expectation is you’re going to help us at some point this season,’ and I think that’s what he is working for.”

What, me worry?

The Mets insinuated this week that the Dodgers might have a system to know what pitches are coming at Dodger Stadium. Kapler nipped that talk in the bud Friday afternoon.

“Our game is not to get paranoid,” Kapler said. “We don’t get paranoid. We won’t get paranoid. Our job is to prepare for any possible situation and to make it difficult for anybody to gain any sort of advantage on us. Our clubhouse believes there are very good players on the other side of the field and that’s our main focus, getting out very good hitters and driving the ball off some very good pitchers.

“There have been rumors about a lot of other clubs as well. We take precaution by preparing our players to mix up signals. We take precaution in every possible way. We account for everything we can. We’re not going to do anything different for this series than we have for any other series.”