ATLANTA — David Robertson jumped for joy after Bryce Harper’s home run gave the Phillies an early lead in Game 2 of the National League wild-card series Saturday night in St. Louis.
But it knocked the veteran reliever out of the divisional round.
Robertson strained his right calf while celebrating Harper’s homer, according to manager Rob Thomson, and wasn’t on the 26-man roster that the Phillies submitted Monday before Game 1 of the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
“He’s devastated,” Thomson said after the Phillies replaced Robertson with reliever Nick Nelson. “He knows how big a part he is to this club.”
The Phillies acquired Robertson from the Chicago Cubs in an Aug. 2 trade for pitching prospect Ben Brown. In 22 appearances, he posted a 2.70 ERA and six saves with 30 strikeouts and 16 walks in 23 1/3 innings.
Robertson, 37, returned to Philadelphia and received a platelet-rich plasma injection Monday. It’s unclear when he may be ready to return, according to Thomson, but it wouldn’t be until at least the next round.
“That’s terrible,” said Zack Wheeler, the Phillies’ Game 2 starter. “It’s one of those freak things, and those kind of things happen every once in a while. He’s a big part of this team. It stinks that he’s not going to be able to be with us for however long it’s going to be.”
The Phillies will scramble to pick up the late-inning slack. Paging Connor Brogdon and Andrew Bellatti. Or Brad Hand.
Maybe even Noah Syndergaard?
”Somebody’s going to step up, or a couple of them,” Thomson said. “For sure.”
Hand has the most experience among the remaining Phillies relievers. The 32-year-old lefty didn’t appear in the wild-card series in St. Louis and hasn’t pitched since Sept. 14 because of elbow tendinitis. But he has three career postseason appearances, all with Cleveland.
The Phillies haven’t named a Game 4 starter, and although Syndergaard is in the mix (along with Kyle Gibson and lefty Bailey Falter), Thomson indicated that the big right-hander may be a bullpen asset.
”I liked his stuff out of the pen. It ticked up,” Thomson said. “I’ve said many times before, he’s going to throw strikes. The moment’s not going to get the best of him. So I have confidence in doing something like that.”
The Phillies spent $26 million in the offseason on free-agent relievers Corey Knebel, Hand, and Jeurys Familia. Knebel is out for the season with a shoulder injury; Familia was released in August.
And now Robertson, one of their big trade-deadline additions, is lost, too.
