Phillies: After 1.2 innings, starting pitcher Mick Abel takes a ‘walk’ to the showers

PHILADELPHIA — Here a walk, there a walk, everywhere a walk, walk.

Phillies righthander Mick Abel gave one free pass after another to the San Diego Padres in a 6-4 loss in Wednesday’s opener of a twilight doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park.

Abel walked five batters and lasted just 1.2 innings. He threw 53 pitches — only 25 of them strikes — giving up five earned runs and a pair of hits while striking out three.

In a disastrous second inning, two of the runs trotted home on bases-loaded walks; the other three scored on a two-out, two-strike, bases-loaded double into the left-field corner by Manny Machado.

All of this after Abel opened the game with back-to-back strikeouts.

“Yeah, obviously my command got away from me,” Abel said. “I think I started to try to do a little too much. You know, I got some leverage counts and was trying too hard to make the pitches, if that makes sense, and just not naturally letting it happen.

“I had all the confidence in the world that I could make the pitches, but, you know … It’s really frustrating. I thought I had everything in control today, and it just kind of slipped.

“It just taught me even more about how important preparation is for every time I go out there. I think it was definitely tough this week getting scratched in Atlanta (June 27, long rain delay), but that’s no excuse for going out and doing what I did today. It’s right back to work tomorrow.”

For the last few years, Abel was half of a dynamic duo of top Phillies pitching prospects, along with fellow righty Andrew Painter. But then Painter suffered an elbow injury in March of 2023 and eventually needed Tommy John surgery, and Abel began struggling with his command.

Two years ago, between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Abel walked 65 batters in 113.1 innings. Last year in Lehigh Valley, he handed out 78 bases on balls in 108.2 frames. He felt the issue was mental, including trying to be too fine, like on Wednesday.

“It’s just that sometimes it’s not easy to come into this scenario (in the majors) and be successful right away,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “He definitely has the stuff. He’s done a great job for us, so that’s just part of the growing pains of being a young pitcher … but I think he still has the confidence to pitch well for us.”

The 23-year-old Abel, who had made five starts heading into Wednesday’s start, was 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA, 1.157 WHIP, 18 strikeouts and just four walks in 23.1 innings since being called up.

“I just chalk it up to one of those days,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s been pretty good all year long. He’s been good here. Very few walks in his first couple outings.

“I’d like to see him be able to change eye level, throw his two-seamer a little bit, power the ball through the zone, get above the barrel, just be who he is, really. We’ve talked about it, about getting the ball down.”

Painter, 22, has been solid with Lehigh Valley this season, posting a 3-2 record, 4.46 ERA and 1.413 WHIP with 45 strikeouts and 18 walks in 40.1 frames. The Phillies are easing him back from his surgery and rehab. They’re shutting him down for the minor league all-star break, for rest, and would like to bring him up in the middle or latter part of this month.

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With the Phillies down two runs in the ninth inning of Game 1, Brandon Marsh tried to go from first to third on a line-drive single to center by Trea Turner. Not a smart play, and he was initially called out to end the game, but a replay review overturned the call, and the game went on.

“That’s a base runner’s decision right there,” Thomson said. “The ball’s in front of him. Marsh just assumed that the center fielder was going to throw the ball into second base, keep the tying run out of scoring position. But you can’t assume anything. You’ve got to make sure in that situation.”

Kyle Schwarber eventually went down swinging for the final out.

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With the return of Bryce Harper after missing nearly a month, Otto Kemp — who was Harper’s frequent replacement at first base — is likely to see less playing time.

In 20 games (69 at-bats), Kemp was hitting .246 with four doubles, a home run,10 RBIs, a .325 OBP and .348 SLG. He also played reliable defense.

“I’m going to take the same approach as what I’ve been doing, just try to be ready to play every day,” Kemp said Wednesday. “For me it’s about knowing ahead a little bit. We have a series coming up where we’re going to face a couple of lefties, so I’ll probably get a little bit more time.

“So just kind of looking ahead that way and making sure I’m staying up to date in left, up to date in the infield. Just making sure that I’m ready to go whenever I’m needed.”

The Phillies have a three-game set against Cincinnati this weekend. Lefties Andrew Abbott (7-1, 1.79 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) and Nick Lodolo (5-5, 3.52 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) are scheduled to start Friday and Saturday.

Thomson said a couple weeks ago that he’d like for Kemp to eventually platoon with Max Kepler in left field, spell Alec Bohm at third, and still play first occasionally. Kemp started at first base in Game 2 Wednesday and made a throwing error in the fourth inning.

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Righthander Aaron Nola (1-7, 6.16 ERA, 1.51 WHIP), who’s on the 60-day IL with a stress fracture in his rib cage, is slowly beginning to do some rehab.

“I know he was throwing a little bit, doing agility work,” Thomson said. “I think they’re going to try and get up on the slope today. Let’s do kind of a Williamsport bullpen, just a shorter move to catch him up. And maybe, hopefully, we get him up on a mound for a full bullpen session this weekend sometime.”

Thomson credited the “Williamsport” phrase to former All-Star pitcher and longtime MLB pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

Even after Nola is ready to appear in live games, he’ll probably require several weeks of action, similar to spring training, before returning to the big club

“It’s starting over, really,” Thomson said.

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The Phillies called up 26-year-old righthander Seth Johnson to be the 27th man for the doubleheader. It was his second stint with the club, and he impressed in two innings of relief in Game 1, striking out two and not surrendering a walk.

“I was impressed with his stuff,” Realmuto said. “It looked really good. The fastball’s heavy. I thought his curveball was good. He had good command of it, and then also mixed in the slider. Changeup, he threw maybe four of them, and he located all four of them.”

The Phillies’ bullpen, which consisted of Max Lazar, Taijuan Walker, Johnson and Daniel Robert in the first game, combined for 7.1 innings and allowed just one run.

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NOTES >> Former manager Charlie Manuel was hanging out at the ballpark on Wednesday. The World Series-winning skipper, 81, suffered a series of health issues in recent years, including a debilitating stroke in 2023. But he underwent intense rehab to recover. Though he was moving a little slower than he used to, he was chatty and walking around in the press area while the Phillies played the Padres. … Trea Turner nabbed the 300th stolen base of his career when he swiped second with two outs in the ninth. … Former Phillie Nick Pivetta (9-2, 3.25 ERA, 1.04 WHIP) got the win for the Padres.

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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.