Phillies’ Jose Alvarado says extra rest not to blame for ‘off’ performance in Game 4

José Alvarado was put in a tough situation on Wednesday night. He has been put in tough situations before, but this one was especially tough. Phillies starter Aaron Nola allowed three straight singles to load the bases with no outs in the fifth inning in a scoreless Game 4 of the World Series against the Houston Astros at Citizens Bank Park.

Manager Rob Thomson turned to Alvarado, one his most trusted relievers, to stop the bleeding. But for the first time in nearly a month, Alvarado was unable to do so.

» READ MORE: Two wins away, two losses away. This Phillies-Astros World Series is now a best-of-three.

He hit Yordan Álvarez with his first pitch to force in a run for the Astros’ first run. Then, he allowed a double, a sacrifice fly and a single to extend Houston’s lead to 5-0, which ended up as the final score after four Astros pitchers combined for the second no-hitter in World Series history to even the series at 2. Alvarado allowed two hits and two earned runs in his one inning with two strikeouts.

Entering Game 4, Alvarado’s 10th postseason appearance in 2022, he had allowed just three earned runs over his first nine appearances. But on Wednesday he looked “off.”

“I don’t know whether hitting Álvarez kind of threw him off a little bit or not,” Thomson said. “But, yeah, just a little bit off today. And they had some good at-bats against him.”

Alvarado said he feels fine physically. He entered the game with four days’ rest — he hadn’t pitched since Oct. 28 — but doesn’t blame that for his performance in Game 4.

“I don’t think it had an impact on me,” Alvarado said in Spanish. “As you saw, my command is still there, my velocity is still there. So I’m going to keep working on it.

“I feel fine. These are things that happen in the game. This is a game that seems easy, but it isn’t. It wasn’t the results we wanted. I’m going to turn the page and move on. Tomorrow is a new day.”

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Thomson said all of the Phillies’ relievers would be available for Thursday’s Game 5, and Alvarado will surely play a role in what figures to be a bullpen game. Noah Syndergaard, who hadn’t thrown since a 17-pitch relief outing on Oct. 22, was the choice to start. Syndergaard had made three postseason appearances for the Phillies, the longest of which — a start on Oct. 15 — lasted just 35 pitches.

In that one postseason start, Syndergaard went three innings. The Phillies were able to piece together the rest en route to an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves, but it was Alvarado who did the bulk of the work. He went 1⅔ innings that night, allowing one hit and one earned run.

After throwing 22 pitches on Wednesday, it’s hard to imagine Thomson would get a 1⅔-inning outing again. But with the series tied 2-2, and three games left to play, the Phillies needed Alvarado to return to his old self — and fast.