Phillies see something a little ‘off’ in Seranthony Domínguez, but don’t expect it to last

TORONTO — Seranthony Domínguez was charged with the loss on Tuesday, but he is not the sole reason the Phillies failed to come out with a win against the Blue Jays. If Kyle Schwarber had caught Whit Merrifield’s fly ball that fell for a single earlier in the eighth inning, Alec Bohm’s force out of Nathan Lukes at the plate would have been the third out.

The lineup didn’t help, either. The Phillies were held to four hits in a 2-1 loss on Tuesday night, while going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. But Schwarber didn’t catch that ball, and the lineup didn’t score more runs, which put Domínguez in a pivotal spot after Zack Wheeler had put in seven strong innings.

It did not go well. With the bases loaded, Domínguez tried a slider down and in, but instead yanked it toward Cavan Biggio, hitting the left-handed batter in the foot to force in the go-ahead run for the Blue Jays. Biggio grinned as he jogged to first. Jeff Hoffman came in to get the third out, and the Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. It was a brutal way to lose.

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But, in some ways, it was a loss that was indicative of the Phillies’ biggest problem of late. Their relievers have a 5.14 ERA over the last week. They’ve struggled to navigate a seven-man bullpen, and Domínguez not looking like his dominant, unflappable self has exacerbated those struggles. With limited relievers at manager Rob Thomson’s disposal, everyone is going to see high-leverage spots — especially Domínguez, who has shown he can handle them.

But over seven games in August, the right-handed reliever has allowed more walks (five) in a month than he has since April. Domínguez said he feels fine physically, but Thomson can see that something isn’t right.

“He’s off a little bit,” Thomson said. “And he’s gone through this before, in years past. Just got to get his confidence back and believe in his stuff and run it through the zone.

“It’s probably just his delivery. He’s not in line with the catcher and kind of yanking pitches quite a bit. So we’ve got to get him back in line, get him comfortable on the mound.”

Domínguez has allowed almost all of his walks to right-handed hitters. He has walked 14 righties and only three lefties in 138 at-bats.

“I think it is going to change,” said pitching coach Caleb Cotham. “He’s not going to keep doing that. The more consistent his delivery is, the more consistent his shapes are, the more he can command the baseball.”

Cotham said there were some positive takeaways from Tuesday’s outing. He thought Domínguez’s slider was as crisp as it has looked all season, even if he wasn’t locating it. For now, the Phillies don’t intend to change anything about Domínguez’s delivery. They are just going to work on making it more consistent, making sure his timing is right, and his release point is where it is supposed to be.

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“If his hand is on time, and he knows where his hand is at, then the ball does what it’s supposed to do, so then he knows where to start it to throw it in the zone,” Cotham said. “But when the sinker is moving a lot, or going down, or the four-seam is cutting or not cutting, the slider is backing up or not … it’s tough to know where to start the ball.

“It’s just getting to his best move more often. And understanding when this happens, that is because of this. If the slider backs up, this is what is happening in your delivery, when the four-seam isn’t cutting, or is yanked, this is usually what’s happening.”

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Cotham is optimistic that Domínguez will return to form sooner than later.

“You’re always working on your delivery,” he said. “He’s got a lot of moving parts. He’s a really loose guy. So I think he’s really close.”