The Phillies made four roster moves ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader at Citi Field against the Mets, swapping two pitchers and position players.
Dylan Covey was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to September 28) with lower back pain.
Right-handed reliever Luis Ortiz was recalled from Triple A.
Infielder Rodolfo Castro was selected to the Phillies’ spring training complex in Clearwater, where he will remain ready should he be needed due to injury.
Corner outfielder/infielder Weston Wilson was called up from Triple A to replace Castro.
The Phils only had three games left in the regular season when they made moves on Saturday afternoon. Taijuan Walker is slated to start Game 1. Cristopher Sanchez is expected to put an inning or two behind him as the Phillies prepare the lefty for a bullpen role in October.
Covey was supposed to pitch multiple innings in one of the games this weekend but instead, he was shelved. Manager Rob Thomson will have to figure out how to split the 21 or more innings that Walker or Sanchez didn’t pitch this week while keeping all of his key arms fresh for the wild-card round.
Entering Saturday, the Diamondbacks lead the Marlins by a half-game for the 5-seed, who will face the Phillies in the opening Best-of-3 at Citizens Bank Park. The D-backs have two remaining at home this weekend against the Astros, who are equally desperate, just one game up on the Mariners for the final wild-card spot in the American League.
The Marlins have a tiebreaker against Arizona so they will be the 5-seed if the two teams finish with the same record. The Marlins finished two in Pittsburgh, then were at Citi Field Monday to end a suspended game they led by a run in the ninth inning.