The Phillies have been playing well, winning four straight series and 10 out of their last 14 games. But to keep the momentum going, the Phillies will have some challenges ahead. While the Phillies activated starter Aaron Nola, the Phillies lost three other arms at once.
Zach Eflin was placed on the 10-day injured list with right patella tendinitis. Eflin told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that he was "not overly concerned about it". In Eflin's absence, the Phillies will have to rely on their bullpen for more, with Wednesday's game now expected to be a bullpen game.
The bullpen will be short one of the arms that the Phillies probably were counting on to help in that game. The Phillies placed both lefty reliever Bailey Falter and right-handed reliever J.D. Hammer on the COVID-19 list. On the Tuesday night broadcast, Tom McCarthy reported that Falter tested positive for COVID-19. Falter had been activated from the COVID-19 list just four days prior.
The Phillies will likely have to lean heavily on the likes of Cristopher Sanchez on Wednesday. A starter at Triple-A, Sanchez gave he Phillies three strong innings against Boston to head to the All-Star break. It did not help that Aaron Nola could only give the Phillies 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday night.
The Phillies will have added help from two rehabbing pitchers as soon as this week.
Reliever Sam Coonrod could return to the Phillies soon. He appeared in Sunday's game for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, pitching a 1-2-3 inning. The Phillies did not activate Coonrod, so it appears they hope to see him a little more before activating him on the major league roster. That could come soon.
Starter Chase Anderson made another rehab start at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday night. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs. It's Anderson's fifth rehab start at Triple-A. He will be due to be activated this week.
