Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
When a team hasn’t won a game in a certain turn in the starting rotation questions will be asked. For the Phillies, that question surrounds the fifth starter, or the lack thereof this season.
After Sunday’’s rough outing by Alan Rangel in a 6-1 series loss to the New York Mets, the Phillies have not won a game started by the scheduled fifth starter or opener since May 18. Rookie Andrew Painter, who started as the number five starter in the rotation is revamping his arsenal and delivery in Lehigh Valley.
So what is the gameplan moving forward four days from now?
Interim manager Don Mattingly wouldn’t commit either way.
“We’ve talked about it, but not really sure,” Mattingly said. “We’ll see how everything comes out in the next couple of days. In general,. I like giving those guys their rest. We are going to need to keep them strong all year long, so we need to be careful with that.”
The team’s off day on Thursday could allow the team to skip the fifth starter’s next turn in the rotation.
Meanwhile, Rangel was optioned earlier on Monday to make room for reliever Alex McFarlane.
The flame-throwing right-handed reliever is available out of the bullpen Monday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers according to Mattingly.
It’s the second time this season the 25-year-old has been called up to join the Phillies. The first being on April 24 where he was essentially an emergency arm after the team was short on pitchers.
He did not pitch in that game in Atlanta and was sent down the following day.
However, with the bullpen struggling to bridge the gap between starters to the leverage arms in Orion Kerkering, Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran, McFarlane’s stay could be a little longer than the one day cup of coffee he had earlier.
“The ends of the games haven’t been a problem for us, it’s more getting there sometimes and how much usage we have before that,” Mattingly said.
“His stuff has been really good and he has a really good arm." “You don’t know exactly what to expect, but we know he’s got the stuff to pitch here.”
McFarlane, ranked the 17th-ranked prospect in the farm system per MLB Pipeline, has an electric fastball and sinker that hits triple digits on the radar gun. He has been commanding his four-seam fastball better against left handers as he continues to learn how to pitch in high-leverage situations with Double-A Reading.
He’s been checking boxes off in the role.
“He’s really thrived in those situations,” Director of Pitching Development Travis Hergert said.
“Have to remember this is his first time being a true, high-leverage reliever. It’s something he did periodically in college, but as a professional, this is his first time,”
The stuff looks like it could be major league caliber and putting good numbers up in Reading, it was head scratching why it took this long for McFarlane to get another crack at the big leagues.
McFarlane has been focused on “pitching where his feet are,” and ready to seize the opportunity. In 32 relief appearances in Double-A, the flame-thrower has a 2.06 ERA with 12 saves. In 35 innings he has 47 strikeouts and opponents hit .187 against him.
He wasn’t needed to record outs on the day he joined the bullpen in late April, but with the team in the thick of a playoff race and a struggling bullpen, McFarlane may get his turn at some point this week against two household organizations in the league in the Dodgers and New York Yankees.
