Phillies Notes: Phillies' Cloyd to pitch Thursday on short rest

Tyler Cloyd lasted only four innings and was knocked around Sunday in his shortest major-league start yet. In the aftermath, there were silver linings. His teammates rallied for a victory. And the Phillies have a starter for Thursday.

Cloyd will pitch on short rest in the series opener at Houston. The doubleheader on Sunday could have created a quandary. Cloyd, however, threw only 76 pitches.

"With my pitch count, it shouldn't be too bad," the rookie righthander said.

It's the first time this season the Phillies will ask a pitcher to start on three days' rest.

Cloyd said he did not know of the team's plans until after he was removed from the game. The scheduling issues, plus his ineffectiveness, prompted an early hook.

There were no other obvious solutions. Raul Valdes, who made a spot start earlier in the season, recently had knee surgery and is out for the season. The best candidate from the minors, Jonathan Pettibone, went home when triple-A Lehigh Valley's season ended a week ago.

Cloyd, 25, has thrown a career-high 184 innings between the minors and majors. His previous high was 1651/3 in 2009.

"We'll dial down the lifting and the bullpen," Cloyd said. "We'll just work on little things and get ready for Thursday."

Jonathan Papelbon accomplished a feat Sunday that no Phillies pitcher had done in 37 years. With the doubleheader sweep, Papelbon recorded a win and save on the same day. Tug McGraw was the last Phillie to do it, on June 29, 1975.

Papelbon, flourishing in the first year of a $50 million deal, had never before appeared in both games of one doubleheader. He leads the National League with 55 games finished and his 2.52 ERA is his lowest since 2009.

His ERA in save situations is 1.73. He is 32 for 36 in saves.

The Phillies recorded their 11th walk-off victory Sunday, the most for them in a single season since 1991. Those 11 walk-offs are second most in the majors, behind only Oakland (13). . . . On Sunday, B.J. Rosenberg became the 18th Phillies pitcher this season to record a win. That is two shy of the franchise's all-time mark of 20 pitchers, set in 1999.