May 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano (68) and catcher Rafael Marchan (13) shake hands after a victory against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Rob Thomson was asked a question about Jordan Romano after the Phillies 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday.
He misheard the question and thought it was about Jesus Luzardo.
If you look at the past two weeks in a vacuum though, the answer could have applied to Romano.
"There's been a lot made of our front office not making any moves this offseason, well that's a pretty big move right there," Thomson said.
And while he was talking about Luzardo - who improved to 4-0 this season with a 2.00 ERA after throwing another seven strong innings and allowing just one run, as good as Romano has been of late, that same sentence could have been uttered and not completely dismissed.
Romano picked up the save on Wednesday - his fourth this season. He faced three batters - including two lefty pinch hitters. He threw 13 pitches, 10 were sliders. He struck out all three batters. Two on sliders, and one on a fastball.
Easy as 1️⃣,2️⃣,3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/qstuDUovCU
That's six consecutive scoreless outings for Romano. Seven-of-eight and nine-of-11 as well.
When asked a second time about Romano, Thomson wasn't as effusive as he was of Luzardo, but still had a lot of good things to say.
"The break on the slider is really good right now and he's landing it and it's almost like a short curveball," Thomson said. "It's really late and it's really deep. He's got a lot of confidence right now."
It's showing.
And while his ERA is still an eyesore - he lowered it to 8.22 after Wednesday's outing - if you look at things a little differently, you'll see that Romano has been pretty darn good.
Yes, there was the blowup against the Miami Marlins in which he nearly blew a seven-run lead in the ninth inning. That implosion - in which he allowed six earned runs on six hits in 2/3 of an inning, is what makes his traditional stats look so ugly.
But let's take that game and exclude it for a minute. After all, there was a chance he was tipping his pitches in that game. Thomson hinted that might have been the case.
Romano won't say, because he doesn't want to give the opposition any insight into what he was doing as everything is on tape. But for the sake of this argument, let's say he was tipping, and take that one game out of the mix.
Taking that one away, in the last month-plus (since April 10) Romano has made 11 appearances. In those 11 games, he has a 0.84 ERA and a 0.750 WHIP. He has 11 strikeouts compared to just two walks.
"I think the command is definitely getting better," Romano said. "The slider shape depth has been getting kind of where I want it."
He had the Cardinals off balance on his slider in the ninth inning. It was the first time he struck out the side in an inning since July 4, 2023 against the Chicago White Sox.
Jordan Romano went from worst signing of all time to 2008 Brad Lidge in the span of a couple weeks.
"The slider for me is more feel," Romano said. "I've been working on getting a little more depth. A little more late break."
It's working, and Romano has becoming a pitcher that Thomson feels good about leaning on again in high leverage spots - and he's delivering.
And it's partly because Romano is settling in now. He's no longer trying to make a first impression on a new team. That first impression went out the window when he allowed 13 earned runs in his first nine outings.
But now, things are different. Now, he's pitching the way the Phillies had hoped he would. There's no guarantee it continues this way for the rest of the season, but there's also reason it can't, for the most part, be this good.
"It always feels good when you are contributing to wins," Romano said. "I'm just feeling more like myself out there. I'm not pressing as much. I'm just being me."
Sounds simple. The Phillies prefer it that way.
