The Philadelphia Phillies were desperately looking for answers to their bullpen woes, with a bottom-ten ERA in relief and some blown saves plaguing the team in recent outings. Who did they turn to? None other than Neftali Feliz, the 2010 American League Rookie of the Year who last pitched in 2017 for the Kansas City Royals. But, hey, why not? Between injuries and ineffectiveness, any help would have been welcome in Philadelphia, and Feliz was enjoying some truly awesome numbers with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Phils' Triple-A affiliate.
It was on Monday night that Feliz would finally return to the bigs, with the Phillies leading the Cincinnati Reds by two runs. Spencer Howard struggled, allowing two runs in 2.1 innings of work, though Bailey Falter came in to relieve him and pitched four scoreless innings. That's when Joe Girardi decided to bring back Feliz... and that's also when things went off the rails.
He had some good stuff, flashing 98 miles per hour on a fastball. But the positives pretty much ended there. First came a walk to Aristeded Aquino, followed by a strikeout. Then was a HBP against Jesse Winker. And then came Nick Castellanos.
No, Nick Castellanos is not an easy out. In fact, he's the furthest thing from it, boasting a .343 batting average and, as of the writing of this story, totaling a casual seven RBI against Philadelphia on Monday. But a grand slam — and a subsequent embarrassingly high ERA — is not the way you want to make your return to the bigs if you're Feliz. Next up was Joey Votto, who ripped a double, though Feliz ultimately got out of the inning after that.
Still... yeesh! Perhaps Feliz won't be the answer after all, and the search will have to continue.
For what it's worth, the Reds have scored a few more runs off the Phillies and have extended their lead to 12-4 while I've been writing this. Maybe it wasn't on Feliz. Maybe the Reds are just really good. Who knows — all we can say for sure is that it's not the greatest time to be a Phillies fan right now.
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