Who needs pitching? Everyone, it seems, and there are no easy answers for the Phillies.

When the Phillies arrive in Atlanta later this week, they will face neither Braves ace Max Fried nor 21-game winner Kyle Wright, both of whom are injured. They won’t see wily veteran Charlie Morton or flame-throwing Spencer Strider until the weekend, or emerging right-hander Bryce Elder at all.

Truth be told, the Braves aren’t sure who will start the series opener Thursday night. Maybe they will run another bullpen game, their fourth in two weeks. (They lost the previous three.) Or call up rookie Dylan Dodd, who has struggled in triple A (6.67 ERA) and the big leagues (6.46), or Michael Soroka, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2020 because of two Achilles tears.

The point is, the Phillies are hardly alone in having a fifth-starter problem.

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Everyone, it seems, is scrambling for pitching. It’s always the case but even more extreme in 2023, when injuries and ERAs are on the rise. And that explains why multiple teams reportedly put in a waiver claim last week for a 31-year-old right-hander with a 6.54 career ERA and one major league appearance since 2020 who was pitching in Taiwan last year.

The Phillies considered themselves fortunate to land Dylan Covey. He will be added to the active roster Tuesday, and even if he doesn’t start against the Diamondbacks, he will pitch multiple innings at Citizens Bank Park in what would’ve been Bailey Falter’s turn in the rotation had the lefty not dragged an 0-7 record and 5.13 ERA back to triple A last week.

Covey parlayed a 3.47 ERA in 23 starts last season for the Rakuten Monkeys in the Chinese Professional Baseball League into a minor league contract with the Dodgers. He made six starts at triple-A Oklahoma City before getting called up to provide bulk innings in a bullpen game against Minnesota on May 17. He threw 63 pitches to 18 batters in four innings, allowed two runs on homers by Byron Buxton and Joey Gallo, and got designated for assignment.

Two weeks later, the Dodgers could probably use Covey to chew up some innings again, especially after they put starters Dustin May and Julio Urías on the injured list in a three-day span last week. Instead, they’re calling up top prospects Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller to fill in.

And therein lies the difference for the Phillies.

Their best pitching prospects are injured (Andrew Painter) or in double A (Mick Abel and Griff McGarry). The top options at triple A — lefties Cristopher Sánchez and Michael Plassmeyer — have struggled. Sánchez, in particular, has walked 19 batters in 26⅔ innings. Nonroster right-hander Noah Skirrow appeared on the radar after a solid start for Canada against Colombia in the World Baseball Classic and a strong April in triple A, but he has struggled in his last two starts.

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So, the Phillies will give Covey a look. And if he’s able to at least help buy a few weeks to find a more permanent solution, it will have been worth the $50,000 waiver claim.

In time, McGarry may be a viable fifth-starter solution. The hard-throwing 23-year-old came to spring training as a dark-horse rotation candidate but was ticketed to start the season in the minors when he strained a muscle in his side. He made his first start May 5 at low-A Clearwater, then moved up to double-A Reading, where he threw 25 and 45 pitches in his first two starts. Last week, he struck out five batters in 2⅔ scoreless innings.

“He’s going to continue starting with Reading,” farm director Preston Mattingly said Monday. “He’s building back to a starter workload.”

McGarry will throw roughly 65 pitches in his start this week, according to Mattingly, which could put him in line for 85-90 by next week. If he continues to pitch well while getting stretched out, maybe the Phillies could consider him for a call-up in June.

While they wait for McGarry, or Sánchez, or any other internal option to emerge — or for Falter to turn things around (he gave up five runs on seven hits in 5⅔ innings Sunday for Lehigh Valley) — the Phillies may try to piece together a bullpen game every fifth day while keeping their fingers crossed that Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, and Ranger Suárez stay healthy.

But is that feasible? Asked last week how many multi-inning relievers the Phillies would need to carry to incorporate the opener-bulk model into the rotation, manager Rob Thomson said, “I think you’d need at least two, maybe even three.”

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Left-hander Matt Strahm could be one of them, although he has already logged 33 innings after working a total of 44⅔ all of last season with the Red Sox. Nick Nelson was getting stretched out in the minors for bulk-relief work until he recently strained a gluteal (buttock) muscle. The Phillies have discussed using right-hander Jeff Hoffman in a multi-inning role.

And then there’s Covey.

“We’ve got guys in the bullpen that can provide length,” general manager Sam Fuld said last week. “So, I think it’s feasible to think that we could get through, at least in the near term, with a bullpen [game]. We’ll just have to monitor that.”

It’s a problem, but at least it isn’t exclusive to the Phillies. Thursday night in Atlanta will serve as a helpful reminder.

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