Phillies manager Rob Thompson gave his mental Rubik’s Cube a few twists and then revealed before Saturday’s game how he plans to deal with the best-substitution problem of having more pitchers (six) than slots in the rotation (five).
Lefthander Cristopher Sanchez will not start Monday against the Giants as originally scheduled. Instead, he will initially start on Tuesday with four additional days of rest. That too could change if he is needed out of the bullpen on Saturday night.
The pitcher most affected by all the machinations created by unforgiving mathematics is right-hander Spencer Turnbull, even though he is 2-0, 1.67 in six appearances this season. He will be available outfield on Sunday night, and if he is not needed in a long-term role, he could join Sanchez on Tuesday.
“He can do a lot of different things,” Thompson said of the 31-year-old right-hander. “Obviously he can give you length. He gives us another (reliever) to beat right-handed hitters, because we struggled a little bit with that. And I have the confidence to put him in leverage (situations) so I think right now that’s the right way to go.” His followers.
“He wants to start. But he said that at the end of the day he will do anything to help the team win.
The manager admitted that he is reluctant to tamper with success, but sees this as the best option. “There’s anxiety. He pitched well,” he said. “But there’s always anxiety when you do something like this. That’s why the situation is difficult.”
Turnbull has made just one appearance in his big league career, with the Tigers in 2018.
The ripple effect of all this is that Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola will start on Day 5 in their next starts. Both had extra rest in their recent starts and struggled somewhat with driving.
Everything is written in pencil now. A 6-man rotation is not out of the question at some point in the future. Turnbull will also not start in place of Sanchez if starting the right-hander against a particular lineup is deemed advantageous.
Giants RHP Logan Webb (3-2, 2.98) will face RHP Taijuan Walker (1-0, 8.53) in an ESPN game Sunday night starting at 7:10 p.m., a game to be announced later in San Francisco against Wheeler (3-3 , 1.91) Monday at 4:05 p.m
After that, stay tuned.
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