Phillies reliever Seranthony Domínguez is ‘controlling his shapes’ to thrive in high leverage situations

BOSTON — A few weeks ago, when Seranthony Domínguez was really struggling, manager Rob Thomson began to use him in lower-leverage situations. The idea was to build his confidence back up. His slider wasn’t biting the way it used to, and he had been struggling with his command.

That strategy seems to have worked. Domínguez is back in high-leverage situations and is thriving in them. On Wednesday night, he entered in relief of Spencer Turnbull in the seventh inning. The bases were loaded, and there was only one out.

Domínguez needed only 11 pitches to get out of the inning. He induced a flyout and struck out shortstop David Hamilton — who went 2-for-4 that night — on a slider in the dirt.

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The right-handed reliever gave a little skip as he walked off the mound. He has been feeling like his normal self lately.

“I felt happy because I helped Turnbull in that big situation there,” Domínguez said. “I know the situation right now, he hasn’t pitched in a couple of days, he didn’t feel his command last night. But everybody knows what kind of pitcher he is. He’s really good. I was happy to help him.”

Domínguez added: “I feel really good. I feel like my body feels ready, mentally. Every time you go to the mound and you get the sense that you’ve helped, and you get a clean inning, you get your job done, it gives you confidence a little bit more. Every time you pitch well, your confidence keeps going up.”

Luckily for the Phillies, Domínguez has been stacking up those clean outings. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last nine games and has walked only two batters over that span. He has a 1.88 ERA over his last 15 games.

“He’s throwing strikes,” Thomson said. “I mean, last night, I don’t know how many pitches he threw, but it was probably 90% strikes. he’s got good stuff. It was 99, I think he touched 100 last night, close to it. He’s landing the slider.”

One of the biggest reasons for his success lately is consistent pitch shapes. Domínguez has more of a plan when he goes out to the mound now. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham pointed to Wednesday’s outing as an example.

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“It feels like he’s under control,” Cotham said. “I mean, he’s been really good for over a month now. It hasn’t been maybe dominant every time, but he’s put up a lot of zeroes. Last night, I thought a really good thing — and it’s just a culmination of him working really hard — he threw the harder slider with two strikes to the lefty, Hamilton, and fouled it off and threw it lower and bounced it and got the strikeout.

“So it was just a one-pitch adjustment that was really good. Noticing where that was and knowing the framework for what I need to do — you don’t have to change pitches. You can throw the same one again if I think it’s right. He went lower and got the strikeout.

“If I don’t know where my slider is going because my shapes are different every time, it’s hard to have a plan. He’s controlling his shapes, so, therefore, he can control where he wants to start pitches so that he can control the strike zone.”

Brandon Marsh (right hamstring strain) started a rehab assignment in double-A Reading on Thursday night. Marsh will DH and play center field on Friday. It’s possible he could be back as soon as Saturday in Baltimore. … Trea Turner (left hamstring strain) ran the bases at a higher intensity on Thursday afternoon. His strain is more severe than Marsh’s, so the Phillies are going to be careful not to rush him back — especially since he won’t be going on a rehab assignment.