Phillies

The Big Story on Action News is the Phillies Bullpen Looking Like a Well-Oiled Machine

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 28th, 2025 · 10:13 AM EDT

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The Phillies took game one against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, a 2-0 victory on the strength of six Ranger Suarez shutout innings and then a clean 7/8/9 from Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm, and Jordan Romano.

It was the bullpen’s 11th save in 12 opportunities this month, good for a 91.7% mark, which is second best in Major League Baseball with three days remaining in May.

Here’s a look at some other relief stats from 5/1 through 5/27, from our Sportradar data:

• 3.89 ERA (14th)
• 1.22 WHIP (9th)
• .234 opponent average (7th lowest)
• .303 opponent on-base percentage (6th lowest)
• .367 opponent slugging percentage (12th lowest)
• .669 opponent OPS (9th lowest)
• 20% inherited runner scoring rate (4th best)
• 64.6 strikes thrown percentage (14th)
• 35.4% balls thrown percentage (13th)
• 2.93 strike out to walk ratio (tied for 5th)

These are good numbers. They are top half or top 10 in pretty much everything that matters. It also helps when half the month is played against the Pirates, Rockies, and A’s, but these numbers also take into account the series against the D Backs, Rays, Guardians, and Cardinals. By the end of the month, it will include three games against the Braves and two against the Brewers, so we’ll have a better barometer by the weekend.

To get a little more granular, Jordan Romano’s turnaround has been the main factor in bringing these numbers down. He’s allowed just three runs in 9.2 May innings, and all three of those runs were conceded in a single bad outing in Sacramento. In the other eight games, the line is nine innings, three hits allowed, zero earned runs, 13 strikeouts, and one walk. He has a 2.79 ERA this month and has lowered his season ERA to 7.65, down from a high of 15.26 in mid-April. It takes relief pitchers time to lower that number because they just don’t throw a lot of innings.

Orion Kerkering has also had a near-perfect month, allowing just one earned run on five hits through nine innings. He has five holds in May and and a 1.00 ERA, lowering his season number to 3.54, down from 6.48 in mid-April, around the same time Romano’s struggles crested.

They’re still going to need a bullpen arm or two if they see themselves a World Series contender, especially with Jose Alvarado’s suspension casting a big shadow over the unit as a whole. But there’s been recent stability and the outlook is much better than it was.