Phillies’ Seranthony Domínguez again proves he’s ‘the right man in the right spot’ in the playoffs

ATLANTA — Phillies reliever Seranthony Domínguez took the mound at Truist Park in the bottom of the fifth inning in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday. He was asked to hold on to a 1-0 lead against a historically good Braves offense, and, initially, he wasn’t doing a great job. Dominguez allowed a single to Orlando Arcia, struck out Sean Murphy, and allowed another single to Eddie Rosario to put runners on the corners with one out.

Two of the Braves’ best hitters — Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley — were coming to the plate. So, the Phillies called for a mound visit. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham and catcher J.T. Realmuto jogged up to Dominguez. They were armed with a message.

“Get 0-1, make a couple of good pitches, and we win this game,” Cotham said. “You’re the right man in the right spot.”

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Said Realmuto: “Just trust your stuff and go right at him. We trust you. You’re the perfect pitcher to get a double play in this situation.”

Dominguez did better than that. He retired Acuña on a four-pitch strikeout that should have been three, thanks to a disputed call by home plate umpire Brian O’Nora. In the next at-bat, he struck out Riley on seven pitches.

He pumped his fist into his glove and jumped as Riley swung and missed on his sinker for strike three. It was an emotional moment. After the Phillies won Game 1, 3-0, Realmuto wondered if that outing could spark something in Domínguez.

The right-handed reliever hadn’t pitched since Oct. 1 in New York. He has not looked as dominant as he did last year. He’s struggled with his command. He isn’t inducing as much swing and miss. But, as we saw last year, sometimes it only takes two at-bats to set you straight.

In 2022, Domínguez had an 11.57 ERA over his eight outings entering the wild-card series in St. Louis. He allowed eight walks over that span. It was a strange turn of events, considering his 1.64 ERA over his 46 outings leading up to September.

But everything changed in the wild-card series. Domínguez replaced José Alvarado in the eighth inning of Game 1 with a runner on first and one out. He was asked to hold onto a 2-0 lead. He allowed a single to Albert Pujols to put runners on first and second, and then struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado on 12 pitches.

He allowed only two earned runs and one walk in his next eight postseason appearances.

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“It’s actually very similar,” Realmuto said of the Acuña and Riley strikeouts on Saturday night. “Those two strikeouts were a lot like what happened last year in St. Louis. Two of the best right-handed hitters on the team, with a runner in scoring position, with us having not a very big lead. Very similar situations.

“If you can get confidence from any two at-bats, it would be striking out Acuña and Riley out in that big of a spot. So to see him do that, maybe that gives him the confidence he needs to go out there and just trust his stuff. Let it fly inside the strike zone.”

Said Cotham: “Guys that have that in them need those moments sometimes to pull it out. He pulled it out there and found out what he’s capable of, which is to be the best in the game.”

There were other reasons Cotham and Realmuto felt encouraged. Domínguez’s velocity on his sinker averaged 98.7 mph on Saturday, after he’d averaged 97.6 mph on that pitch this season. The movement on his sinker got better as his outing went along, too.

But above all, they were encouraged by how he battled. He was challenging the hitters he faced.

“It looked like he wasn’t thinking,” Realmuto said. “He was just letting it rip, and everything was playing a lot better.”

There’s no sense in predicting how this outing will impact Domínguez the rest of this postseason, but the Phillies hope this performance has the same effect that last year’s outing in St. Louis had.

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Domínguez hopes so, too.

“I don’t know if it’ll have the same impact, but I feel good. I feel healthy,” he said. “And my main goal is always to help the team so as long as I do that, I am happy.

“Whenever you have an outing like that, you feel more confidence, you feel better. You feel like you have the backing of the team. Those were the right words for me in that moment. They helped me relax and breathe. And I was able to do what I needed to.”