Phillies’ Spencer Turnbull shines on the mound in a Friday night rout of White Sox

J.T. Realmuto stood on the grass near the Phillies’ dugout and waited.

He was easy to spot — and not just because he was clad from head to toe in canary yellow catcher’s gear. As other players dashed off the field in the seventh inning, Realmuto hung back for pitcher Spencer Turnbull.

Turnbull’s days in the starting rotation are likely numbered. A decision hasn’t been made, Rob Thomson stressed, but the manager also said nothing that happened Friday night will change the plan. Taijuan Walker is expected to return from a shoulder injury, probably next weekend. Turnbull has been his stand-in. The move is fairly evident.

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Still, Turnbull tossed 6⅓ innings before allowing a hit in a 7-0 slaughter of the punchless White Sox at Citizens Bank Park, dropping his ERA to 1.23 in four fill-in starts.

The least Realmuto could do was shake his hand.

“Obviously I want to make [the decision] as hard as possible,” Turnbull said. “I want to start and give the team the best chance to win when I’m out there. All those decisions aren’t really up to me. But you give me the ball, I’m going to go out there and do what you tell me.”

Alec Bohm was the hitting star in the series opener against the White Sox, whose 3-16 record is the worst in baseball. He banged an opposite-field three-run homer to right field in the first inning, then hit a mirror image three-run shot to left in the third, both against hard-throwing lefty Garrett Crochet.

It was Bohm’s fourth career two-homer game and the fourth time he drove in six runs. It also marked the latest sign that the 27-year-old is poised to grow into the power that is commonly expected from a 6-foot-5, 220-pound third baseman.

And then there was Whit Merrifield, who changed his walk-up song to “Mr. Brightside” and his season-opening 3-for-28 mojo by cranking a solo homer in the fourth inning.

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“I’ve been working on going back to my two-handed swing,” Merrifield said after recording his first hard-hit ball (95 mph or more) of the season. “The two-handed swing has been a much better, cleaner swing for me lately.”

But the Phillies’ fourth consecutive victory against another tomato-can opponent followed a common theme: stellar starting pitching.

In four turns through the rotation, starters Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, and Turnbull have combined for a 2.39 ERA. For context, the Phillies’ 2011 “Five Aces” rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton posted a 3.47 ERA through four turns.

Turnbull is the unexpected member of the group. The Phillies took a $2 million flier on him in February to be a depth starter. He was ticketed for the bullpen until Walker injured his shoulder at the tail end of spring training. He stymied the Reds in the rain in his Phillies debut, tossed six scoreless innings in St. Louis, then overcame four walks against the Pirates last week.

But this was a masterpiece. Using his fastball, sweeper slider, and biting curveball, he chewed through the White Sox. Through six innings, he allowed one baserunner on a two-out walk in the second.

Turnbull had been in this position before. He threw a 117-pitch no-hitter for the Tigers in 2021, and at the time, it appeared that he would be a mainstay in Detroit’s rotation. But injuries, including Tommy John elbow surgery, torpedoed his last two seasons.

“I thought about it a few times,” Turnbull said of his previous no-no.

Bohm had a no-hitter on the brain, too. Based on the swings the White Sox were taking against Turnbull, Bohm thought it was possible. Turnbull was at 79 pitches entering the seventh inning. Thomson said he likely would’ve allowed him to throw at least 100, maybe as many as 110.

“You kind of started to get that feeling of the [Michael] Lorenzen night last year a little bit there,” Bohm said, referring to the Phillies no-hitter last August. “And then they snuck that hit in there.”

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Gavin Sheets played the spoiler, knocking a clean, one-out single to right field. Turnbull completed the inning, walked off the mound at 92 pitches, and perhaps made a statement.

The White Sox have scored 38 runs through 19 games, and if that sounds bad, well, it’s actually historically pathetic. Only five teams — two since 1966 — have scored fewer runs in the first 19 games of a season.

But 6⅓ no-hit innings is 6⅓ no-hit innings, no matter the opponent.

Thomson was asked before the game whether Turnbull could do anything against the White Sox to cement his status in the rotation.

“Nothing,” Thomson said. “No.”

Because there are other considerations when it comes to Turnbull. He missed all of 2022 and threw a total of 57 innings between the majors and minor leagues last season with the Tigers.

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The Phillies know they will most likely need Turnbull in the rotation again this season, so Thomson said they want to monitor his workload to make sure he remains available.

A move to the bullpen when Walker returns could make it easier.

“That’s a big part, because you can’t add too many innings,” Thomson said. “I don’t know what that limit is. Usually you go up 30 or 40 from the year before. But we’re not going to put him in jeopardy.”

Said Turnbull: “I guess I understand that type of thinking. I don’t feel limited at all. I feel like I could handle the workload. I feel as healthy as I’ve felt in a long time, so I’m not really concerned physically of how that workload will take a toll. But I’m just going to go out there and pitch my best, whatever role that is.”

And if he keeps pitching like this, he’ll help the Phillies in any role.