PHILADELPHIA _ Zach Eflin was money _ about $20,000 worth _ on Thursday night.
It wasn't that Eflin pitched so great for the Phillies. He gave up four runs, two in the first inning, on seven hits, five of which went for extra bases, and left with two outs in the sixth inning. As Eflin's best starts of the season go, this one doesn't make the list.
But considering everything that happened before he took the mound and what awaits the Phillies in the next two games, Eflin gave them what they needed for a few hours: A restoration of calm after one of the ugliest games of the season.
Once Rhys Hoskins provided a lead with a three-run home run in the finale of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, Eflin helped make it hold up in a 9-6 Phillies victory that salvaged a split after a 24-4 rout in the opener, their worst loss in 89 years.
The Phillies actually wound up picking up a half-game in the standings after the division-leading Atlanta Braves lost, 5-3, to the Colorado Rockies. And with co-aces Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom slated to start for the Mets on Friday night and Saturday, respectively, the Phillies are only 1{ games off the pace in the National League East.
After pitching his game, Eflin returned to triple-A Lehigh Valley to complete a 10-day minor-league option, a roster maneuver last week that cost him about $20,000 but enabled the Phillies to keep a full complement of position players on their bench and eight relievers in their bullpen. Eflin likely will be recalled to make his next scheduled start next week against the Washington Nationals.
Kapler had used only two of those relievers in Game 1 of the doubleheader when, with the Mets pummeling the Phillies by 11 runs, he decided to put rookie centerfielder Roman Quinn on the mound in the seventh inning. It was a strategy, Kapler said, to preserve the bullpen for Game 2.
Quinn, who has a checkered injury history in the minor leagues, wound up throwing more pitches (42) than long reliever Mark Leiter Jr. (37). And when Quinn ran out of gas with two out in the eighth inning, Kapler turned to shortstop Scott Kingery, who lobbed the ball so softly to the plate that it didn't register on the radar gun.
"Down the road we're going to look back on this and it's just going to be a time when we got our asses kicked and we had position players on the mound," Kapler said. "But in this (second) game, we're better positioned as a result."
But Eflin made sure the Phillies didn't need to burn through their bullpen.
It didn't start off well. He gave up back-to-back-to-back doubles to open the game, and the Phillies were trailing 2-0. But Eflin retired nine of the next 10 batters, and by the time Austin Jackson opened the fourth inning with a double, the Phillies had a 6-2 lead.
For that, they could thank Hoskins, who took Mets starter Steven Matz deep in the first inning. Of Hoskins' team-leading 25 home runs, 14 have given the Phillies a lead.
The Phillies added three more runs in the second inning. Kingery started that rally with a solo home run that snapped an 0-for-21 drought. It was the struggling rookie's first hit since the Phillies obtained Asdrubal Cabrera to take playing time away from him at shortstop. Wilson Ramos notched an RBI single, and a few batters later, Cesar Hernandez dashed home after Nick Williams got into a rundown between first and second base.
Eflin kept the Mets quiet until the seventh inning when they scored two runs to cut the margin to 8-4. And they made it interesting in the ninth against Yacksel Rios, forcing the Phillies to turn to relief ace Seranthony Dominguez. The Mets brought the tying run to the plate before Dominguez struck out Austin Jackson and Jose Bautista.
