CHICAGO — Two weeks ago, Michael Mercado was in Allentown starting against the Norfolk Tides.
Taijuan Walker was healthy. Spencer Turnbull was healthy. The idea that Mercado would find himself on the mound at Wrigley Field for his first major league start against the best team in baseball just two Tuesdays later would have sounded far-fetched.
Yet there he was for the Phillies’ series opener against the Cubs, making the first of what could be five starts before the July 30 trade deadline.
The 25-year-old rookie allowed heavy contact here and there, mostly to Cody Bellinger, but made a promising introduction to the Phillies’ rotation by allowing just one run and two hits in five innings in a 6-4 victory, a job well done for any team’s fifth starter.
Mercado had two on with two outs and a 2-0 count for Ian Happ in the first inning, but recovered to strike him out.
He threw 28 pitches in the third inning and allowed a two-out RBI double, then cruised comfortably through the fourth and fifth.
“The most important thing is to keep your composure and keep competing without being intimidated,” Trea Turner said.
“That tells you a little bit about his character and his poise,” manager Rob Thomson added. “He threw strikes, his fastball had good velocity, it looked like he had good range. Cutter was really effective and hit his breaking ball enough to keep them away from everything else. I thought that was really good.”
Mercado didn’t even begin the year on the Phillies’ starting pitching roster. They acquired him in November from the Rays, who didn’t have room on their 40-man roster, and he began the season as a reliever in Triple-A.
But the struggles of starters like Kolby Allard, David Buchanan and Mick Abel, among others, gave him a chance.
“It was actually Brian Kaplan (assistant pitching coach) who came up with it because we had a couple of guys that weren’t pitching well in Triple-A at the beginning of the season,” Thomson said. “Just because of the stuff with the high velocity, the ability to throw strikes and the way he can throw his breaking ball, the effectiveness of that, he thought he could be an important piece for us as depth. And thank God he came up with the idea because it really worked out well.”
The end of Mercado’s first start was especially impressive. He retired the last seven batters he faced and needed just 21 total pitches to get through the fourth and fifth innings before handing the ball to the bullpen, which retired nine straight batters until Jose Ruiz allowed all three batters he faced to score in the ninth inning.
“Both times I was more nervous just warming up before the game,” Mercado said of his first relief appearance and first start. “It’s like making my debut, it’s one of those things you dream of doing in such a historic place. It was also a great team win. I’m happy I was able to contribute.”
“I think the confidence I have in myself and the confidence the guys in this locker room have in me is key. We’re going back to what we’ve always done and, for me, that’s shooting. Being able to adapt and treat it like any other game is a big thing.”
It helped that the Phillies were behind him from the start. Garrett Stubbs, who prides himself on his game-planning and catching skills, guided Mercado through the start and helped him further with a two-run double down the third-base line in the second inning.
Turner hit a solo homer to left-center field in the top of the third inning, then brutalized a 94 mph fastball from Hayden Wesneski up the middle in the fifth, hitting it 439 feet out of the park over Waveland Ave for a two-run homer. Two innings later, Turner fell behind on the 1-2 count before hitting a two-out RBI single to the opposite field.
“Oh, of course,” Thomson said of the positive impact of early support on the race. “But it can also work the other way around. It can put more pressure on a player because he has the lead and doesn’t want to give it up. But he stood his ground. He was great.”
Turner hit the game-winning, two-run single Sunday and will be even more crucial than usual over the next week to 10 days as the Phillies await the return of Bryce Harper (hamstring strain), Kyle Schwarber (groin strain) and JT Realmuto (recovery from right meniscus surgery). All three injured Phillies are making progress. Each jogged onto the field Tuesday, with Realmuto doing catching drills and taking batting practice on the field for the first time since his June 12 surgery, and Harper and Schwarber hitting in the indoor cage.
Harper and Schwarber could return as early as July 9. Realmuto’s return might have to wait until after the All-Star break, though Thomson hasn’t closed the door.
“We’ll see,” the Phillies manager said Tuesday afternoon. “He’ll bounce back quickly.”
The Phillies are 11-9 without Realmuto and 3-1 since Harper and Schwarber were injured. They’ve gotten big contributions from Turner and Nick Castellanos, as well as Stubbs.
Stubbs treats his offense as “icing on the cake,” but he has held his own at the plate since Realmuto’s surgery, hitting .275 with one hit in 10 of the 11 games he has played.
The mindset of the next man on the roster for the 2024 Phillies has been more than just words.
“A lot of guys want to play,” Turner said. “Everyone is excited for the opportunity and that’s a big deal. I don’t know if it’s always like that, but I feel like guys are eager to play and that’s great. When their name is called, it’s their time to show what they can do, and we have a lot of good players, too. That combination is what we’re seeing.”
The Phils have a season-best 56-29 record, 27 games over .500. The Braves lost to the Giants, so the Phillies’ division lead has been restored to nine games. The teams meet this weekend for the first time since the first three games of the year.
But first, they’ll look to win at least two of three games against a Cubs team that has lost six of seven series and 16 of its last 24 games. Zack Wheeler will take the mound Wednesday night and Cristopher Sanchez will do so in the afternoon on July 4.
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