St. LOUIS — Rob Thomson said over the weekend that for the Phillies to get to where they want to be in 2023, they need Seranthony Dominguez to be one of their top right-handed relievers, the version of himself who dominated in October one years ago.
Dominguez pitched well Tuesday against the Braves and Friday at St. Louis but allowed a go-ahead or game-tying home run on Sunday for the third time in his last five outings. Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker took him deep with two outs and none in the bottom of the eighth inning in a game the Phillies lost 6-5.
“It’s not one of Ser’s better sinkers,” catcher JT Realmuto said. “Going back on it, maybe we could have gone somewhere. Obviously, he’s ready for the fastball there. The kid’s a good hitter, he puts in a good swing. It’s just unfortunate what happened there.”
Dominguez had a 1.57 ERA in mid-September a year ago. In the playoffs, he posted a 1.69 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 10⅔ innings. This period is not as productive. He had seven saves with five losses and hasn’t finished his pitches as much as usual since mid-August, with the swinging strike rates on both his fastball and slider very good.
That wasn’t the case Friday, when he hit the first batter he faced before retiring three in a row, two with strikeouts.
“I think his stuff is better,” Realmuto said. “Definitely his slider, his last outing was the best I’ve seen in months. It’s exciting to see.”
The Phillies never chased their wins Friday or Saturday and came back Sunday from an early three-run deficit and a late two-run deficit. They took advantage of sloppy infield defense from the Cardinals to score three in the top of the fourth. Nick Castellanos tied the game with an RBI single in the eighth, an inning that began with Alec Bohm’s 17th home run of the season.
The Phils had another chance to tie or take the lead in the ninth inning when Bohm walked and Bryson Stott singled. Realmuto scored on three pitches and Johan Rojas flew out to end the game.
Realmuto went 0-for-8 Saturday and Sunday and is in another slump, 4-for-32 in his last eight games without an extra-base hit or walk. He’s hitting just .190 with runners in scoring position after hitting .279 the last two years.
“If I have an answer, I’ll fix it,” he said. “Maybe trying to do too much in those situations, expanding the zone a little bit. I don’t really have an answer for it.
“I’ve never been able to find a move for a consistent amount of time like I usually do. I’ve been fighting things over and over, never been involved. Hitting is a mentality and confidence even anything else and I haven’t found my confidence for a consistent amount of time this year. Confidence comes when you can hit a barrel at the ball. Even though I’m good at the plate, I’ve had a lot of tough outs.”
How about when he saw the ball at his best in mid-June, during the Phillies’ trip to Arizona and Oakland in June when Realmuto hit for the cycle and homered three times in four innings. game? What clicked before?
“I got good pitches to hit and I didn’t miss,” he said. “Now, when things don’t go well, it seems like pitchers are hitting their spots, and if they tend to miss an at-bat or two, I tend to foul it out. Now, I’m not In taking advantage of mistakes, I usually foul or just miss it, and then they make bad pitches to get me out of there. leave it in the heart of the plate.”
Realmuto, like Rhys Hoskins, has a leg kick in his swing. When he goes south, it is often cited by others as the reason for his struggles. But Realmuto maintains that the leg kick isn’t the source of his inconsistency this season — it’s more about plate selection and missing hittable pitches.
“That’s not really. That’s a media thing,” Realmuto said. “When I’m at my best, my leg kick is usually at its peak. My leg kick changes from at-bat to at-bat, swing to swing. It’s more of a rhythm thing. for me. That’s not the issue. I just need to be more consistent and get the barrel of the ball more often.”
The Phillies also need more consistency from Taijuan Walker heading into the playoffs. Walker completed seven innings Sunday but allowed five runs – three in the third, two in the fifth.
He was touched especially by two future Hall of Famers of St. Louis, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Goldschmidt hit a two-run double in the third inning, a solo homer in the fifth and a near miss with a bomb left in his first at-bat. Arenado doubled in a run in the third and singled home in the fifth.
Walker retired the final eight hitters he faced after Arenado’s RBI single as Thomson pushed him through seven innings in an effort to preserve as many key pieces of the bullpen as possible for the upcoming series in Atlanta.
The damage has been done, though. Walker’s last quality start — at least six innings, no more than three earned runs — came on July 31. He has a 5.85 ERA in seven starts since. The Phillies are 20-9 in his outings but have lost back-to-back games for the first time since the first two weeks of the season.
He had better control against the Cardinals, walking just one batter after issuing 16 free passes in his previous 26 innings.
“I feel better today,” he said. “That’s the game plan, have JT sit in the middle and just try to attack the zone as much as possible.
“The numbers don’t look good, five runs, but I feel like my pitch is better than it shows and I feel like I’m getting a lot of groundballs and attacking the zone today. That’s what I want.”
Walker has 15 wins and excelled in June and July with a 2.58 ERA in 11 starts, but it’s unclear whether he’ll even be in the wild-card round for the Phillies. Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez are throwing the ball more effectively, and Thomson still believes in Aaron Nola as a big-game pitcher despite Nola’s struggles in September.
“We still have to get there first, we still have to finish strong,” Walker said. “But we have so many weapons and so many good starters who can come out and be good for us, and anybody who doesn’t can be good for us in the bullpen.”
Despite Sunday’s loss, the Phillies swept the series, going 5-1 against the Cardinals this season and holding a three-game lead for the top wild-card spot over the Cubs, who play Sunday at night The Phils also have the tiebreaker against the Cubs, making it a de facto four-game lead.
Next up is a three-game series in Atlanta. The Braves were swept by Miami over the weekend after clinching the NL East from Philadelphia on Wednesday. MVP frontrunner Ronald Acuña Jr. missed consecutive games with calf strain and his status for the series opener will be determined after a workout Monday.
“For the most part, we played well, and today, we came back,” Thomson said of the St. Louis series. “We got some fortunate breaks there in the fourth, but at least we answered. Three of them got up, we answered. They took the lead, we answered. We just kept coming.”