TORONTO — The absence of one player can make quite a difference. The Phillies know this. They’ve lost Bryce Harper, they’ve lost Jean Segura. On Tuesday night, the player they lost was Bailey Falter.
Falter, who had been pitching out of the rotation in place of an injured Zach Eflin, was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley on July 7. When asked why Falter was sent down, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski wouldn’t give a specific reason, but Falter was unvaccinated last year when he tested positive for COVID-19.
We don’t know for certain if Falter is unvaccinated. He hasn’t spoken to that. But if he is, Falter, who was in line to pitch Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, wouldn’t have been able to enter Canada, where vaccination is a requirement for visitors. Because he was in Lehigh Valley, the Phillies were forced to clobber together a bullpen game that ended in a 4-3 loss.
Falter has not been lights-out for the Phillies this season — he has a 4.82 ERA through nine games pitched, five of them starts — but he would have been able to give his team four innings. Instead, interim manager Rob Thomson ended up using six relievers, a significant workload for a group heading into a five-game stretch over six days before the All-Star break.
The Phillies bullpen has looked more than solid over the past few weeks. They were not as unflappable Tuesday night. Andrew Bellatti — who entered the game with a 2.19 ERA over his last 14 games — made his first career start, and allowed two earned runs in one inning. Mark Appel followed him, pitching three innings — his longest major league outing to date — and allowed an earned run on five hits with two strikeouts.
Even still, the bullpen escaped some close calls. Jeurys Familia ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit an RBI double to give the Blue Jays their 4-3 lead. With runners on second and third and one out, Corey Knebel entered the game. He walked his first batter to load the bases but induced a popout and a groundout to end the inning.
José Alvarado and Michael Kelly followed Knebel with scoreless outings, but the offense wasn’t able to do more damage against the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
