On Sunday, the Phillies were without set-up man Mike Adams, who was nursing a sore back. In fact, the team went to rookie Justin De Fratus to face the Diamondbacks' best right-handed hitter in a key situation late. Today, we learned from Phillies.com writer Todd Zolecki that Adams is still experiencing issues with his back:
[Adams] said this afternoon his back is still grabbing him like Sunday in Arizona, when he could not pitch because of back spasms. He said he got examined Monday and said “everything looks fine.” He said he hopes he isn’t out long.“Hopefully it kind of goes away here pretty quickly,” he said. “It’s kind of weird. I’ve never had anything like it before. I threw that morning and felt fine. I went through BP and the last five minutes of BP it kind of grabbed me.”
De Fratus might find himself in more high leverage situations. The Phillies right-handed bullpen options other than Jonathan Papelbon are scarce. Chad Durbin has largely been uneffective. Phillippe Aumont, pegged to be the seventh inning right-handed setup man, has also struggled in key situations. Durbin has no decisions but a 6.45 ERA. Aumont is 1-3 with a 2.45 ERA.
With the Phillies offense struggling, those late outs are key.
