The Phillies placed Brad Keller on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 14, before tonight’s win over Miami. Keller is dealing with forearm tendinitis. Max Lazar came up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and tossed a scoreless ninth to wrap up an 8-2 victory.
Philadelphia didn’t provide a timeline on Keller’s return. Signed to a two-year, $22MM free agent deal, Keller has been Philly’s top setup arm. He leads the team with 13 holds and has entered in the second-highest leverage situations on average (after closer Jhoan Duran). Keller has mostly been effective, holding all but one lead while adding a trio of saves.
It has still been a step back from the righty’s fantastic 2025 season with the Cubs. Keller’s earned run average has climbed more than two runs and sits at 4.15 through 30 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate has dipped three percentage points and the ground-balls have plummeted. There hasn’t been any huge drop-off in his stuff, but he’s working from behind in counts a little more often and opponents have teed off on his four-seam fastball.
Keller is coming off probably his worst outing of the season. He allowed five baserunners and three runs against Milwaukee over the weekend, nearly squandering a 9-5 lead in the process. His previous four outings had been scoreless, and he’d recorded a hold in nine straight appearances up to that one. (He wasn’t eligible for a hold in that outing because he entered with a four-run lead.)
Orion Kerkering projects as Philadelphia’s top setup option as long as Keller is sidelined. Jonathan Bowlan could find himself in more key situations as well. The Phils are a little more questionable from the left side. Neither José Alvarado nor Tanner Banks has gotten great results this year. Tim Mayza has pitched well but has traditionally been a situational ground-ball lefty.
Elsewhere on the roster, Kyle Schwarber got the start at first base this evening. It was only the tenth such start of Schwarber’s MLB career and his first in a Philadelphia uniform, as the previous nine had all come with the 2021 Red Sox. The Marlins unsuccessfully tried to bunt in that direction a couple times and wound up not testing him all game, as they didn’t hit any balls to first base.
Interim manager Don Mattingly said postgame that the Phillies could get Schwarber sporadic first base work throughout the season (link via Paul Casella of MLB.com). It’s certainly not going to be a regular occurrence but could occasionally allow the Phillies to get Bryce Harper a half-rest day as the designated hitter, as he did tonight. Harper has started all 73 games this year — 68 at first and five as the DH. Schwarber got the day off for two of those previous starts while drawing into left field twice.
