Why Rob Thomson didn’t turn to his bullpen sooner in Thursday’s loss

The Phillies’ loss to the Mets on Thursday in New York swung in the early innings.

Taijuan Walker had conceded four runs in the opening three frames, but the Phillies had just scored again in the fourth to bring their deficit to a run. In a game that looked like it would get away from them early, Walker having allowed three home runs to that point, the Phillies were back in it.

That changed quickly. Walker came back out for the fourth. Francisco Álvarez hit a ball to the moon. The Mets scored five in the inning. That, effectively, was that.

“It happened pretty quick,” manager Rob Thomson said after the game. “Álvarez was gonna be his last hitter. And he struck him out the last time. Poorly executed pitch, and he hit it out.”

The Phillies are a win in New York from clinching a postseason berth and two from securing the National League East. They have a comfortable but not invincible three-game lead (plus the tiebreaker) on a bye past the Wild Card Series. They’re now tied with the Dodgers for the best record in the NL, also owning the tiebreaker.

It’s a matter of when, not if, the Phillies punch their playoff ticket and seal the division. They have nine games to sort out all the rest. Thursday was their seventh in a string of 13 consecutive games before their final off day of the regular season.

“I’m not gonna burn the bullpen,” Thomson said when asked about bringing someone in for Walker after Trea Turner’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 4-3. “Two of our right-handers, if we use them tonight, they’re down tomorrow. And it was a down game the whole game.”

There also figures to be some postseason math at play, too. Phillies relievers have thrown the fewest innings of any bullpen in the National League. They’d probably like to keep that strength a strength, rather than taxing them in the final week of the regular season and turning the five-day layover from a luxury into a necessity. Perhaps the calculus changes if the division was ambiguous, or if their lead over Milwaukee was a smidge smaller.

But they’re not. So Thomson tried to squeeze an extra inning (or more) out of his starter. Walker didn’t get out of the inning. The Phillies lost. Whatever subtle toast they perform to commemorate their third straight playoff appearance will have to wait. Thomson seems OK with that.

“We’ve got a game tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve got a game for six days in a row. So, you start using all those [high-leverage] guys up, and what happens tomorrow if you get down? So it just didn’t work out. My fault. I’ll wear it.”

Must-read Phillies content

• Here’s Destiny Lugardo’s recap, from Citi Field, of that loss and what it underscored about the Phillies’ pitching depth.
• The earliest they can clinch the NL East is now Sunday. Destiny has all the clinching scenarios, magic numbers, tiebreakers — basically all you need to know about their playoff status.
• Here are some injury updates on Austin Hays and Spencer Turnbull.

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