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Phillies must be cautious with Jake Arrieta to get the most out of him

The Phillies are desperate for starting pitching and looking to add more before next week’s trade deadline. Arrieta, by electing to pitch through pain, is giving them a lot.

Jake Arrieta pitched into the sixth inning Friday night against the Pirates.
Jake Arrieta pitched into the sixth inning Friday night against the Pirates.Read moreGene J. Puskar / AP

J.T. Realmuto walked to the mound Friday night, carried on an extended conversation with Jake Arrieta, turned toward home plate, spun back to his pitcher for a few more words, and finally returned to his perch.

It was clear then — in the sixth inning of a series-opening win over the Pirates — that Arrieta’s night was finished. But it was also clear that the Phillies were not yet prepared to lift him.

Juan Nicasio, warming up in the bullpen, needed more time. Realmuto stalled as much as he could before manager Gabe Kapler signaled from the dugout for an intentional walk. Then Kapler left the dugout and moved to the mound with the pace of a tortoise, giving his reliever just enough throws to finish warming up.

It was as if the Phillies were surprised that Arrieta, pitching with a marble-sized bone spur that grows off his elbow, had run out of steam in the sixth inning. But the signs were there before Josh Bell walked with two out and Colin Moran smoked a double for the Pirates’ second-hardest hit of the weekend.

Arrieta’s pitch count was rising, his velocity was dipping, and the Pirates lineup was seeing him for a third time. Arrieta gave the Phillies five strong innings. There’s an argument that you need more from a $25 million arm. But when that arm has a bone spur, it might be dangerous to push much further.

The trouble that surfaced Friday night was not a surprise. Instead, it was easy to indicate when it would arrive. And those indications — pitch count, velocity, lineup — will remain the same as long as Arrieta continues to pitch with an injury that will require surgery. He won’t pitch in the two-game series in Detroit that begins Tuesday night but is on track for the weekend series against the Atlanta Braves.

The Phillies are desperate for starting pitching and are looking to add more before next week’s trade deadline. Arrieta, by electing to pitch through pain, is giving them a lot. And the Phillies must stress caution to make sure they get the most from him.

“It's going to be there,” Arrieta said of his bone spur. “It's always going to be there.”

The more pitches Arrieta throws, the more his elbow hurts. A good threshold, Realmuto said earlier this season, seems to be between 80 and 90 pitches. Arrieta had thrown 72 pitches Friday night through five innings. He was near the danger zone. And that pain was visible as his velocity decreased. His sinker zipped in the first inning at 92.1 mph. It slowed every inning and was at 89.9 by the fifth.

Then he was trying to navigate the top of the opponent’s lineup for the third time, a task this season that has presented a stiff challenge. Opponents are batting .305 against Arrieta with a .563 slugging percentage when facing him for the third time. Pittsburgh’s third look would be just as fruitful.

He had allowed a run on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks through five innings. Perhaps a line like that should be the goal. If Arrieta’s pitch count is near his threshold and the lineup is coming up for the third time, then the Phillies could strike preemptively and be content with his night.

It’s not what they dreamed of when they signed him, but they didn’t dream he would have an injury so painful that he can no longer throw two of his pitches. Five strong innings could be the limit.

“I think the adjustment is to be as quickly reactive as possible,” Kapler said. “... The truth to the matter here is that it’s so hard to predict. We don’t know when that hard contact is about to come. We try to gather all the information we possibly can and say, ‘Yeah, it’s probably coming sometime soon, but we don’t know.’ If he’s able to extend and give us a couple more outs, it’s really valuable for the bullpen. We’ll use as much information as we can to make the best decisions and probably factor in gut read and do the best we can.”

When Kapler finally moseyed to the mound Friday night, Arrieta told him he wanted to stay in the game. He believed he could induce a bases-loaded grounder to end the inning. His elbow was in pain, but Arrieta was not asking out.

The manager’s decision was already made. But maybe it should have been made an inning earlier. Moran’s double would have brought home the tying run had it not whacked the right-center-field wall so hard. A little higher and it would have been a go-ahead homer. Those are the breaks the Phillies are happy to take, Kapler said.

But it might be enough to know that Arrieta’s limitations are better defined.

“I’m not the type of guy who’s going to be vocal about little things that are going on until it gets to a point where it’s really difficult and that’s where we’re at,” Arrieta said. “I’m going to do what I can to continue to help us win. That’s the bottom line.

“Pitching changes, long at-bats from our guys where I’m in the dugout for a long time, it becomes a little bit more difficult. But that’s OK. That’s fine.”

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