Coming back from Tommy John surgery. Triceps problem. A fight with the flu.
Mike Clevinger was always thought to be stronger than having to wait out one delay after another this year.
He certainly hopes that’s the case with his unstable right knee, which was a major hindrance when he couldn’t get out of the third inning at Dodger Stadium in Game 1 of the NLDS.
Saturday’s start, however long it lasts, will be Clevinger’s first appearance since that shortened start in Los Angeles on Oct. 11.
“I struggled with some things physically,” Clevinger said. “I have good weeks, bad weeks. I feel like I’ve been struggling since the All-Star break. I felt my knee hit the wall for a second. Any rest now will be very important for me.”
The numbers back it up as Clevinger had a 6.82 ERA in seven starts on four days’ rest this year, a 3.35 ERA in nine starts on five days’ rest and a 2.90 ERA in six starts on six or more days’ rest.
His sprained right MCL has been a concern since spring training, but how much it bothers him is a day-to-day question.
On October 1, Clevinger allowed one run in six innings against the White Sox, at one point retiring 16 in a row. Then in Game 1 of the NLDS, after another illness pushed him off the wild-card roster, Clevinger allowed five runs — four earned — on six hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings against the Dodgers.
The good news is that Clevinger said he threw his first “intense” 35-pitch bullpen about a month later. The knee forced him to cut short his usual runs to start his days.
After naming Clevinger the Game 4 starter after Friday’s loss, Padres manager Bob Melvin declined to elaborate on what that would look like. With left-hander Shaun Manaea still waiting for his first postseason start, it stands to reason that he could be involved in this game as well.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Melvin said late Friday night. “Take the dough in the dough.”
In May, Clevinger pitched five shutout, one-hit innings against the Phillies for his first win since 2020.
Here’s how Clevinger pitched in his career against the current Phillies:
Manaea, meanwhile, faced only Jean Segura (5-for-17, BB, K), Nick Castellanos (4-for-6, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Rhys Hoskins (0-for-3, K), as he hasn’t faced the Phillies this year and made his only start against them in 2017 (5 IP, 1 ER).
As for the lineup, the Padres will continue to rely on Austin Nola, who has caught an MLB-best 87 innings in the postseason and will set a Padres postseason record for going into this game in the sixth inning.
Carlos Hernandez caught 92 pitches for the 1998 Padres.
Nola will bat ninth in a lineup that is usually fielded for righties. The Phillies will start with a left-hander (Bailey Folter), who is expected to complete the order once.
So Yurikson Prafar will be ahead of shortstop Ha-Sung Kim.
Prafar has a .705 OPS in 10 postseason appearances compared to Kim’s .518.
Brandon Drury and Josh Bell are also both in Saturday’s lineup, at first base and DH, respectively, leaving Will Myers on the bench.
Like Melvin, Phillies manager Rob Thomson waited until after Friday’s game to announce he would start the game in the bullpen with Folter.
The 25-year-old Chino Hills High product went 6-4 with a 3.86 ERA, 74 strikeouts and a 1.21 WHIP in 84 innings, mostly as a starter.
Falter last faced the Padres last year, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings in two relief appearances. It will be his first postseason appearance and his first appearance of any kind since starting a scoreless inning on Oct. 5 in Houston.
Folter last pitched more than one inning on Sept. 30, pitching six shutout innings at Washington.
Here’s how Falter pitched against the current Padres, including two former NL East contenders in Juan Soto and Josh Bell:
Soto (3-for-8, 3 RBI)
Bell (4-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI 1 BB)
2B Jake Cronenworth (1-on-1)
CF Trent Grisham (1-for-1)
Myers (0-for-1, K)
Thomson added that right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who had a 4.12 ERA with the Phillies since the trade deadline and allowed one run in four innings in his NLDS start, could also appear in the game.
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