The Phillies-Mariners series finale was played in a crisp 124 minutes earlier this afternoon. It was a welcomed development for a Mariners team boarding a plane to Toronto, and it was a beautiful thing for a surging Phillies squad headed to Houston riding the momentum of a 1-0 win and a third straight series victory.

It’s not too often the winning team records just four hits, all singles, and a walk. It’s also uncommon for the winning team to take just two at-bats, both hitless, with runners in scoring position. In fact, for the Phillies so far this season, it has been tough to win without at least four runs on the board. They entered play Thursday with a 1-10 record when scoring three runs or fewer, and yet, their offensive struggles against Seattle starter George Kirby didn’t matter thanks to another strong outing by Matt Strahm and a suddenly lights-out Phillies bullpen.

With their latest victory, the Phillies are at the .500 mark for the first time this season and suddenly have an opportunity to close April with a winning record.

Strahm Continues to Open Eyes

Given the Phillies’ early-season starting rotation struggles, Strahm’s stabilizing performance has been critical. In fact, to call it “stabilizing” would be doing a disservice to the jolt he has provided this team.

Unexpectedly thrust into the rotation as the Phillies dealt with hit after hit to their starting pitching depth, all Strahm has done is give them a 2.31 ERA over 23 1/3 innings pitched. He’s been nasty, too, striking out over 12 batters per nine innings, all while holding opponents to a .148 batting average.

Against the Mariners, he turned in a dominant 5 1/3 scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits without walking a batter. He set the tone from the jump, striking out the side in the first, finishing three different Mariners hitters with three different pitches.

Slider. Fastball. Cutter.

At just 60 pitches with one away in the sixth inning, Strahm could have gone deeper into the game, but Rob Thomson came out and got him before he had a chance to take on the Seattle lineup a third time.

There was a spirited press box discussion over Thomson’s decision. “He’s rolling. 60 pitches. WTF?” was the gist.

Before the game, Thomson told reporters Strahm was good for 80-85 pitches, so the decision to get him was a bit surprising. I guess I was surprised too, but then again, you don’t have to rewind all that far back to see why Thomson ultimately made the call to go to Seranthony Dominguez against Julio Rodríguez.

On Tuesday night, Thomson rolled the dice with Bailey Falter in a similar situation and was immediately burned when his starter surrendered a double to Eugenio Suárez and a homer to Teoscar Hernández. Of course, you can make the argument Falter wasn’t nearly as good in that game as Strahm was in this one, and that’s fair, but I can’t personally kill the manager on this.

It’s worth noting it is :::checks calendar::: April 27.

Strahm has already thrown 23 1/3 innings this season, more than half his total workload of a season ago. Hell, he has already thrown more innings with the Phillies than he did in the COVID-shortened 2020 season or an injury-plagued 2021.

In a vacuum, sparing a guy 15-20 pitches and a batter or two won’t be the difference come September or October, but these conservative decisions add up, and the Phillies have to do everything they can to keep this version of Strahm rolling in whatever role he winds up assuming later this season.

It may have looked like over-managing in the moment, and maybe even a bit soft, but there were multiple considerations in play here, and I’m cool with it.

Insane Bullpen Run Continues

To finish the above thought, I also can’t blame Thomson for wanting to get into his bullpen right now.

I try to bounce around and hit a bunch of different topics in these observations, but there’s no way the story of this one gets told without recounting another outstanding effort by a resurgent group of Phillies relievers. 

The Phillies entered the season banking on a beefed-up bullpen that is littered with a variety of power arms and late-inning experience to deliver big returns. Deliver it did not through the first two weeks, but this bullpen is in the midst of a simply incredible 11-game run right now.

Following another 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Mariners, the Phillies bullpen has yielded just two earned runs over its last 35 2/3 innings pitched. That’s a 0.50 ERA, in you case you were wondering, and it’s not due to luck either.

In those 35 2/3 innings, Phils relievers have allowed just 27 baserunners, good for a 0.76 WHIP.

Welcome, Craig Kimbrel

A few weeks back, I equated the early struggles of Craig Kimbrel to what we saw in the early going last season with former Phillies reliever Corey Knebel. Veteran guy, identical one-year, $10 million contracts, and a struggle to meet expectations.

Kimbrel’s numbers through his first four appearances were ugly. Really ugly.

3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 13.50 ERA, 3.00 WHIP

Predictably, the talk immediately (and understandably) started about bumping Kimbrel out of high-leverage situations. That talk got louder when he gave up a game-winning single in extra innings back on April 12 to Miami’s Bryan De La Cruz. It was the low point of his disappointing start.

Since that game, however, Kimbrel has emphatically quieted the doubts.

Dating back to April 16 (which coincides with the bullpen’s overall turnaround), Kimbrel has thrown six scoreless innings over six games, recording a pair of saves, a pair of holds, and a win. What’s more, he’s allowed just two hits while striking out 11 batters and walking none.

It’s Not All Good

It wasn’t exactly a banner day for the Phillies lineup.

Some aggressive base running by Nick Castellanos and a good send by third base coach Dusty Wathan helped make the Phillies’ four hits stand up by plating the game’s only run.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that both Alec Bohm and Trea Turner’s recent struggles continued in this one.

It was a weird homestand for Bohm. He delivered a key hit in the Phillies’ eighth inning Wednesday night rally and was riding a five-game hitting streak before it was snapped in the finale. But he went just 5-for-26 while watching his batting average sink 35 points from .324 to .289.

As for Turner, he swatted a first inning homer last Sunday, but that was just about it during an otherwise dreadful stretch. An 0-for-3 effort Thursday capped a 4-for-29 homestand in which he recorded just two extra-base hits and 10 strikeouts. With his average down to .273 and a high-profile series with the Astros looming, now would be a good time for Turner to get things rolling again.

Walker Good to Go

Last thing: Taijuan Walker was lifted early Wednesday night as a precaution over some right forearm tightness. Precaution or not, stuff like this is almost never good news, but both the Phillies and Walker expect that he will make his next start.

Walker told our Anthony SanFilippo that he should be good to go.

“I threw my normal day after routine from 90 feet. I’ll throw a bullpen tomorrow and see how it goes, but I feel good,” he said. “You’re always nervous with anything [in] your elbow or shoulder, but this doesn’t seem like it’s anything to worry about.”