The secret to Matt Strahm’s success: ‘I just try to keep attacking the strike zone’

SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Strahm’s idea of unwinding after a game is to rip open a box of baseball cards and add to his exhaustive collection.

Surely, then, the Phillies lefty is a junkie for the stats on the back.

“I’ll read the back of my card, but I don’t dive into the numbers, the little tidbits that they have,” Strahm said recently. “I couldn’t even tell you my career numbers.”

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Strahm claims that he wouldn’t even know he hadn’t given up a run in 21⅓ innings entering Tuesday night against the Giants except that reporters keep mentioning it. His 32-to-2 ratio of strikeouts to walks? He maintains he isn’t keeping track of that, either.

“No, I never do,” he said. “Next hitter I’ve got to get out is all I know.”

Strahm yielded two runs on opening day against the Braves and none since. In his last 21 appearances, he has struck out 31 of 75 batters (41.3%) and allowed only 13 (17.3%) to reach base. His four-pitch mix, rare for a reliever, has been so effective that he dominates even without his best stuff.

Take, for instance, last Wednesday night at home against the Texas Rangers. Strahm threw only nine strikes out of 16 pitches and issued his first walk since April 19, a span of 41 batters. But he still recorded four outs in relief of starter Taijuan Walker.

“I felt like I was doing exactly the opposite of what PitchCom was telling me to do — [call] fastball down, [throw] fastball up; [call] fastball up, [throw] fastball down,” Strahm said. “It comes and it goes. J.T. [Realmuto] joked to me after I came out of the game. He’s like, ‘Hey, go recalibrate.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I need to.’”

Strahm is among the most versatile relievers in baseball. Manager Rob Thomson calls him a “godsend.” Thomson likes using Strahm for more than three batters, although the starting rotation’s success in pitching deep into games has limited him to mostly one inning per appearance.

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Whatever the case, Strahm is only the sixth pitcher ever to allow no runs, strike out at least 30 batters, and issue two or fewer walks over a span of 21 appearances, joining Koji Uehara, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Robb Nen, and Brett Cecil.

Not that he would know it.

“I just try to keep attacking the strike zone,” Strahm said. “I’ve always told pitching coaches, ‘I’m going to give up the most 0-2 hits on your staff, but I’m going to do my best to be the one with the fewest walks.’ I know position guys that gripe about 3-2 counts, foul balls, trying to punch a guy out. If you can get them involved, especially this group, with how good they are at defense, if you let them play, they’re going to win.”

The news Monday night that controversial umpire Ángel Hernández is retiring brought back memories of two explosive Phillies arguments — and ejections — over the last few seasons.

In 2022, Hernández rung up Kyle Schwarber on a borderline full-count pitch in the ninth inning of a one-run game against the Brewers. Thinking he walked, Schwarber stepped toward first base, then did a two-handed bat slam, spun around, and flipped out on Hernández.

Last year, Hernández drew the wrath of Bryce Harper after calling him out on appeal of a clear-cut check swing. Harper marched out to third base to argue with Hernández, then heaved his helmet into the stands on the way back to the dugout.

“Just Ángel in the middle of something again,” Harper said at the time. “It’s just every year, the same story, same thing. I’m probably going to get a letter from [MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations] Michael Hill, and I’m going to get fined for being right. Again. It’s the same thing over and over and over and over again. It’s just not right.”

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The Phillies were set to face two former prospects Tuesday night: Lefty reliever Erik Miller was scheduled to open the game for the Giants, with newly recalled righty Spencer Howard due to follow as a bulk reliever.

Howard, in particular, was a touted prospect with the Phillies. In 2020, Harper famously said on Twitch that “there’s a problem” if the team didn’t put Howard in the rotation during the season.

But Howard struggled before being unloaded to the Rangers in a deadline trade for Kyle Gibson in 2021. In 17 appearances (13 starts), he posted a 5.81 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 27 walks in 52⅔ innings for the Phillies.

Howard, 27, bounced from the Rangers to the Yankees and finally to the Giants, who called him up from triple A with a 5.90 ERA in 10 starts.

Bohm, who made two errors Monday, received a scheduled day off after starting 18 consecutive games. Thomson said Bohm will return to the lineup Wednesday. ... Although Trea Turner (hamstring) took swings in the batting cage, Thomson said there isn’t a timetable for him to resume running after he felt soreness last weekend in Colorado. ... Entering play Tuesday night, the Phillies had lost eight consecutive games in San Francisco. It gets worse, actually. They had dropped 11 of 12 at Oracle Park since August 2019 and 15 of 17 since June 2018. … The Phillies stole four bases in the fourth inning Monday, marking the first time since May 12, 2009, and the sixth time since 1969 that they swiped four bags in one inning. … Cristopher Sánchez (2-3, 3.15 ERA) is slated to start Wednesday in the matinee series finale against Giants lefty Kyle Harrison (4-1, 3.90).