PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Gibson tapped the outside of his mitt as he walked off the mound after the top of the seventh inning Saturday night. It was subtle, understated, the mark of a pitcher who has been through almost everything in a 10-year major league career.
But there’s one thing Gibson hasn’t done. He has never started a playoff game.
Don’t look now, but the Phillies are marching to the postseason. They stomped the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0, behind a three-run first-inning double by J.T. Realmuto and seven sparkling innings from Gibson, continuing their torching of the dregs of the National League Central. They’ve won six consecutive games, four over the gutted Cincinnati Reds and now two over the Pirates, with a chance for a sweep Sunday.
This is what good teams do, and, if you hadn’t noticed, the Phillies are good. They are 50-26 since interim manager Rob Thomson took over for Joe Girardi, 2-0 with Bryce Harper back in the lineup after going 32-20 without him. And their odds of making the playoffs for the first time since 2011 have risen above 90%, according to almost every prognostication system.
The Phillies maintained their five-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for a playoff spot that is beginning to feel downright inevitable.
“We’ve played so well that they feel it. They can taste it,” Thomson said before the game. “So they’re grinding a little more. It’s a good feeling to have, you know? Because we’ve got a good ballclub, and we’re playing well, and they’re hungry. Can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Gibson has been to the playoffs. He made one relief appearance for the Minnesota Twins in a blowout loss at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the 2019 American League division series. But there isn’t an active pitcher who has started more regular-season games than Gibson (255) without getting the ball for a postseason start.
Even if the Phillies get Zack Wheeler back from forearm tendinitis, as they expect they will, and are able to arrange the rotation to have Wheeler and Aaron Nola start the first two games of a best-of-three wild-card series, Thomson would have to seriously consider Gibson for Game 3. Or, at a minimum, he would be in consideration for a start in the best-of-five divisional round.
Consider how Gibson has pitched lately. Since July 2, when he allowed four consecutive homers against the St. Louis Cardinals, he has a 2.80 ERA in nine starts. He will finish August with a 2.30 ERA in five starts. And in blanking the Pirates, he completed the seventh inning for the fifth time in 25 starts and lowered his ERA to 4.08.
It wasn’t always easy. Gibson escaped a two-on, two-out situation in the second inning by picking off Greg Allen at first base. He overcame a two-on, no-out jam in the fifth inning with a fly ball and back-to-back strikeouts of Kevin Newman and the dangerous Bryan Reynolds. And he worked around a leadoff double in the seventh.
All the while, Gibson pitched with a comfortable lead. After scoring four runs in the first inning Friday night against Pirates starter Bryse Wilson, the Phillies struck for three in the first against Tyler Beede. They loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and back-to-back singles by Alec Bohm and Harper before Realmuto roped a double into the left-field corner that left third-base coach Dusty Wathan windmilling his arm until all three runners crossed the plate.
Gibson took care of almost all the rest, moving a step closer to a chance he’s never gotten before.
Avoidance tactic
Here’s one way for the Pirates to get out Harper: Don’t pitch to him.
With two on, two out, first base open, and the Phillies leading 5-0 in the second inning, Pirates manager Derek Shelton ordered an intentional walk, prompting boos from the 37,105 paying patrons.
It happened again in the sixth. With one on, two out, first base open and another run in after Nick Castellanos’ solo homer in the third, the Pirates walked Harper again.
Eighth wonder
Jean Segura reached base three times in his first three at-bats.
Not bad for a No. 8 hitter.
With the Phillies’ lineup at full capacity, Segura batted eighth for the second game in a row. He hadn’t hit that low in a lineup since 2015.
“It’s a pretty good feeling to have a guy of that caliber hitting eighth for you,” Thomson said. “What’s he hitting — .285 or something? That’s pretty good. He’s said all along, ‘Hit me anywhere. I just want to play.’ That’s the type of guy he is. He just wants to win, wants to make the playoffs. He’s never been to the playoffs. He’s really hungry.”
Phillies fans can relate.
