Phillies bullpen comes up short on road trip

CHICAGO - The Phillies bullpen finished the seven-game road trip with a 4.70 ERA, five homers, and three blown saves. The relief corps that entered the season with a reliable feel has suddenly resembled last year's unit, which finished as the worst in baseball.

But manager Pete Mackanin still has hope.

"Oddly enough, I still have a lot of confidence in our bullpen," Mackanin said. "In my opinion they're much better than they pitched on this trip and throughout the season, and I think they'll show they're better than this."

The Phillies bullpen allowed at least a run in each of the road trip's final six games. The unit has an 8.38 ERA this season in the ninth inning. The bullpen has allowed a league-high 21 homers.

Joaquin Benoit gave up a game-tying homer in Thursday's 5-4 loss. Jeanmar Gomez, who lost the closer job early in the season and does not have a defined role, managed to pitch two scoreless innings despite loading the bases in the ninth.

Joely Rodriguez pitched an easy 11th inning but ran into trouble in the 12th and 13th, allowing six baserunners in the final two innings before the loss was sealed on a throwing error by Freddy Galvis. Rodriguez gave up a two-run double on Wednesday. Hector Neris did not pitch Thursday, but he gave up three consecutive homers Saturday in Los Angeles to set the tone for the road trip.

Mackanin said Pat Neshek, the bullpen's best arm, was not available for the 13th inning because "he couldn't get loose." Neshek threw 29 pitches Wednesday night and warmed up in the eighth inning before the team used Benoit. Neshek said he could not enter the game later because he was unable to warm up twice in the same game the day after a heavy workload.

The bullpen wasted a strong start from Zach Eflin, who allowed three runs in seven innings. The righthander threw 99 pitches and went seven innings for the third straight start. Eflin allowed nine hits, but he stranded six runners. He walked none and struck out one. Eflin has a 2.42 ERA in four starts since returning to the majors. Mackanin said the pitcher was outstanding.

"I'm having a lot of fun and I feel great," said Eflin, who had offseason surgery on both of his knees. "I'm just excited to keep going forward and throw every fifth day. Just keep working, get ahead of guys, get weak contact, early contact, and go deep into games and save the bullpen. That's my job as a strike thrower and a weak-contact guy. That's just what I want to be.'

Cesar Hernandez had four hits and Aaron Altherr went 2 for 5 with an RBI. He finished the series 7 for 16 with five RBIs. Maikel Franco homered. . . . The Phillies will open a three-game series at home Friday against Washington. Nick Pivetta will start against Stephen Strasburg as the Phils await the results of Aaron Nola's MRI exam. Vince Velasquez will start Saturday and Jeremy Hellickson will face Tanner Roark on Sunday. Washington had not yet named a Saturday starter.