Spencer Turnbull ‘trying not to worry’ about place in Phillies’ rotation after solid start in loss to Reds

CINCINNATI — A lot can change in a month. On March 23, the Phillies’ Spencer Turnbull abruptly made a spring training start in place of Taijuan Walker, who felt shoulder stiffness. On Wednesday, Turnbull made his fifth start of the regular season, allowing just one earned run on three hits with three walks and a season-high eight strikeouts in a 7-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

It wasn’t his best performance. Turnbull ran his pitch count up early, and struggled to get a good feel for his fastball, in part because the mound in Cincinnati was flat. But he looks back at his full body of work with pride. Turnbull has a 1.33 ERA, which is among the best in the National League.

He’s allowed only 10 walks and has 30 strikeouts in 27 innings. When he signed with the Phillies in February, he was not guaranteed a spot in the rotation, much less the big league team. He understood that his path to the active roster as a long shot. But when Walker got hurt, everything changed.

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And now, a month later, it seems like everything is going to change again. Walker has completed his rehab assignment and is scheduled to make his first start on Sunday in San Diego. Turnbull said he hasn’t been told anything yet about his future in the rotation, but given that the Phillies have expressed concerns about his workload, it seems likely that a move to the bullpen is imminent.

“I’m trying not to worry about it,” Turnbull said. “Just focusing on staying in my routine and getting ready for my next start, so, all of the other stuff is just noise, I’ll just deal with it however it comes.”

Turnbull added: “All of that stuff is out of my control. Obviously I’m aware of things, but I’m just trying to go out there and if i’m going to start, I’m going to start, and give my team the best chance to win. And if things change, things change.

“But hopefully I pitched well enough to give myself a chance to stay in that conversation. I know there’s other factors involved and stuff like that, but they haven’t said anything to me yet, so I’m kind of just ready to get ready for my next start hopefully, and see how it goes.”

Turnbull made it a point on Wednesday to say that he feels healthy and isn’t worried about his workload, but manager Rob Thomson has mentioned it a handful of times. Turnbull’s last few seasons have been marred by injuries, including a 2022 season that he missed while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Last May, he fractured his neck, and was placed on the 60-day injured list.

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He pitched 31 innings in 2023, 50 innings in 2021 and 56⅔ innings in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He’s been a starter his entire career, but hasn’t shouldered a starter’s workload over a full season since 2019. That isn’t his fault. But it is a consideration.

Thomson said that the Phillies haven’t made a decision on Turnbull yet, and should have one in the next few days. He said Turnbull has been “fantastic” and understands the confusion fans might have about a potential move to the bullpen.

“Sure, [I understand the confusion],” Thomson said. “He’s throwing the ball well. He has. But we have a 15-game winner coming, who threw the ball very well for us last year. For the middle of the summer, he was as good as anybody in the National League, really. We’re hoping to get that guy back.”

When Turnbull was asked how he’d respond to a move to the bullpen, he said he wasn’t sure.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,” he said. “I’ll do whatever they tell me. It’s not my decision. Whatever is going to give the team the best chance to win, is what I want to do. So if that going a different direction, that’s fine. I’ve enjoyed my five starts so far. I feel great, I feel strong, I feel healthy. I’m not worried about an innings limit or anything like that. I’ve done it before.”

It’s hard to overstate how scattered Seranthony Domínguez looked on Wednesday. He relieved Turnbull to start the sixth inning with a 3-1 lead. He needed 32 pitches to get through two-thirds of the sixth inning. Only half of those pitches were strikes. Domínguez allowed four earned runs on just two hits with two walks and one strikeout.

He entered this season in conversation for the closer role, but hasn’t been reliable enough to warrant those outings. He has yet to pitch in the ninth inning this season. After his latest outing, Domínguez now has a 9.72 ERA over 10 appearances.

“He’s been kind of hot and cold, you know?” Thomson said. “But I still always have confidence in him, because he’s got a great arm. He’s two years off of surgery and I think that this is probably going to be a big year for him. He had trouble finding the plate today. That was really it. But I still always have confidence in him because he does have a great arm.”

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He spent the spring with the goal of getting into more favorable counts more often, but has struggled to do that. Domínguez is striking out batters at a higher rate but is also allowing more hard contact and more home runs than he ever has.

The Phillies tried to rally but did not do enough to pull out a win. Alec Bohm hit an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the third to give them a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning, with two outs and Bohm on first base and Trea Turner on third, the Phillies tried to execute a double steal. It did not work.

Turner didn’t wait for catcher Tyler Stephenson to release the ball, and took off for home. He was caught in a rundown to end his streak of successful steal attempts at 40. Thomson said it was a good arm fake by Stephenson.

“That was a designed play,” Thomson said. “And what he needs to do is wait until the ball leaves the catcher’s hand. He just got a head start a little bit early.”

An inning later, Johan Rojas lined a single to left field with a runner on second to give them an insurance run, and Whit Merrifield hit an RBI double in the seventh to cut the Reds’ lead to 5-4.

Gregory Soto pitched the seventh inning. He started his outing with a strikeout of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, but allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Santiago Espinal gave the Reds a 6-4 lead. The only reliever who wasn’t charged with an earned run on Wednesday was Matt Strahm, who allowed two hits and two inherited runners to score after relieving Dominguez.

José Alvarado, who pitched the ninth, induced a groundout, then allowed a single to Elly De La Cruz, who proceeded to steal second base, third base, and scored on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat for a 7-4 lead. The Reds stole five bases Wednesday; three were by De La Cruz.

The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. They are now 15-10 on the season.