Aug 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tyler Phillips (48) throws a pitch during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Tyler Phillips' first stint with the Phillies was as much a learning experience as it was a whirlwind.
His second stint might be over without him even throwing a full inning.
Phillips lasted just 2/3 of an inning on Tuesday in Toronto. gave up six runs on eight hits in just 10 batters faced. The Phillies came all the way back to win the game 10-9, and that's the good news. The bad news, at least for Phillips, is that this was probably his last shot to be a part of this run in 2024, and it didn't just snowball on him, the whole damn avalanche engulfed him.
"It just doesn't feel good," Phillips told reporters after the game. "I come in here and get an opportunity and my one goal is to come out here and give the team a chance to win and the first inning I didn't make it through there. Yeah, it just doesn't feel good.
The first four batters of the game went single, homer, single double.
Four batters in and Rob Thomson’s internal monologue probably opens with:
“Taijuan could have done this…”
He got Will Wagner (Billy's son) to ground out but then the Blue Jays went single, homer, single. There was a strikeout, another single...
... and then a shower.
Asked by reporters if he will talk about whether or not to have Phillips pitch again the next time this spot in the rotation comes up (Sunday in Miami), manager Rob Thomson was noncommittal.
"I think we have to (talk about it)," he said.
It's a shame for Phillips because he was hoping that this second time around he could apply some of what he learned the first time to get more consistent results and possibly even stay with the team through their playoff run.
"it's exciting and I'm happy to be back," he told us before Sunday's win over Atlanta.
Of course he was. But it was fair to ask what was so different two weeks later from where he was when he was demoted? What could he hope to do differently now than he did the first time he was here? After all, it was a stint that saw him pick up a win in his first big league start in front of a home crowd in the stadium he grew up watching baseball and for his favorite team as a kid from Lumberton, N.J. and Bishop Eustace High School and then follow that up by pitching a complete game shutout against Cleveland - one of the best teams in the sport.
I can’t even imagine what it feels like to be 7 years old in your backyard pretending to have this moment for your favorite team, and then growing up and doing it
Congrats Tyler Phillips on the complete game shutout pic.twitter.com/5PhS5Xqyid
But it was also a stint that saw him get rocked by Seattle in his very next start and then continue to ride the struggle bus until the Phillies sent him down, indicating that he was a little fatigued.
But the fatigue wasn't physical.
"The main thing was just the mental side of the game," Phillips said. " It was more mental fatigue than anything - just a lot of emotions, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of like, everything that came all at once. ... Sometimes I get ahead of myself. I think towards the back half of when I was here (the first time), I was trying to do so much just to stay here when, realistically, there's moves that are out of my control."
Philips was more worried about his place in the Phillies universe that he lost focus on what he needed to do to be the best version of himself.
"I think a lot of it was just getting back to myself, who I am, what got me here, what allowed me to have so many quality starts while I was while I was in the minor leagues before I got called up," he said. "And then on the skill side ... just taking care of some recovery. Just playing catch, working the slider, getting that back to a place where I feel pretty comfortable with it, like in the zone. And the sinker, I think looks a lot better right now than it did a couple weeks ago."
The Phillies were hoping that Phillips will be able to apply those lessons to at least two starts, and then again, possibly more appearances down the line. But after Tuesday's start. It's not likely to happen for him.
Ideally, the Phillies would prefer to use lefty Kolby Allard, who has been serviceable in his brief tours with the Phillies. But he's not eligible to be recalled, barring an injury, until Sept. 10. The only other possibilities is for the Phillies to recall Kyler Tyler - who they claimed off waiver from the Marlins - to pitch against them on Sunday in a spot start, do a bullpen game, or, get this, turn back to Taijuan Walker.
Walker pitched three innings in relief of Phillips Tuesday. He allowed two runs on a home run by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But, if we're being fair, that pitch aside, Walker was pretty good. He threw 31 of his 41 pitches for strikes. That's what the Phillies have been needing him to do all along.
Any way you slice though, it's likely not going to include Phillips.
He understood he doesn't need to be perfect. He just needed to be efficient, competitive, and give his team a chance to win. And he admitted that lesson wasn't learned until he made a start in Los Angeles last month. In that game, he gave up four runs in the first two innings, and the Dodgers were hitting the snot out of the balls he was throwing. But Phillips reigned it in, and pitched really well over the next three innings, allowing the Phillies to claw back into the game, and eventually score a ton of the Dodgers bullpen, eventually winning the game 9-4.
"That was a that was probably the first, like, true big league outing," Phillips said. "Because sometimes you are going to get hit around, sometimes you're going to give up some runs, it's what you do afterwards. It's how you continue to get through that game. As a starter, I want to go nine (innings). Going six is pretty ideal. If you can find a way to get through six after giving up some early runs, that's a huge part of being starting pitcher. Because there's times where it can hit the fan real quick. n that outing I gave up a hard hit to Teoscar (Hernandez) and gave up a few, a few weaker contact balls, and stuff was falling in holes. I could have crumbled. I could have caved and just let it, let it affect me."
A conversation on the bench with Kyle Schwarber changed that. Schwarber let him know that the game was far from over and that Phillips just needed to bear down and keep the team in it and they could still pull out the win.
Tyler Phillips details his hilarious conversation with Kyle Schwarber during Wednesday's game. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/v3EiE3f3iI
"I started throwing the ball over the zone after that, Phillips said. "My job was to pitch to contact, and just go with it."
Except he pitched to way too much contact Tuesday. And as a result, his storybook 2024 season is probably not going to have the happy ending he had hoped.
