The Seranthony Dominguez Train Wreck Continues: Phillies snap four game winning streak with 6-5 loss to the Angels

Drew Smith
April 30, 2024
Phillies
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Seranthony Dominguez and the Philadelphia Phillies let one slip away last night, snapping a four-game winning streak with a 6-5 loss to Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.

Current National League Player of the Week, Alec Bohm, stayed hot last night, knocking home Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner in the top of the first inning to give his team an early 2-0 lead.

And that's why he's the NL Player of the Week pic.twitter.com/uyIxz5n6X2
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 30, 2024

Brandon Marsh then added another on a sac fly that scored Bryce Harper and just like that, the Phillies were up 3-0 before Cristopher Sanchez even took the mound.

Sanchez was okay last night. He pitched five innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs while walking two and striking out just one.

The Phillies problems last night stemmed from struggling to score with runners in scoring position later in the game and a disastrous sequence from Seranthony Dominguez in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Dominguez was able to get Taylor Ward in an 0-2 hole. Garrett Stubbs wanted a four seamer high-outside and instead the pitch was thrown in the dirt, rolling to the backstop.

Stubbs tried to recover the errant throw and missed Dominguez covering the plate allowing not only Ehire Adrianza to score the go-ahead run but also Mike Trout to score to give the Angels a 2-run lead.

Disastrous Sequence from Seranthony Dominguez and the Phillies

Note: There was no coverage from an infielder to stop an errant throw. It started with Dominguez but overall, just a bad sequence from the Phillies all around.

What should the Phillies do with Seranthony Dominguez?

Seranthony Dominguez appeared in 53 games during his rookie 2018 season. He pitched 58 innings and had a 2.95 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP.

In 2019, Dominguez appeared in only 27 games before heading to the injury list and held a 4.01 ERA with a 1.46 WHIP in just over 24 innings pitched.

Dominguez was caught up in COVID-19 issues in 2020 and was unable to travel and get any type of elective surgeries, delaying his entire recovery process.

He spent the majority of the 2021 season rehabbing in the minor leagues and only appeared in one game at the major league level at the very end of the season.

In 2022, Dominguez was back.

Finally, after a healthy offseason in which he dropped nearly 40 pounds (238 to 199) Seranthony rejoined the Phillies bullpen and was a pivotal part in the team catching fire on their way to the World Series.

2022: 6-5 | 3.00 ERA | 54 G | 11 SV | 51 IP | 1.14 WHIP
2023: 5-5 | 3.78 ERA | 57 G | 2 SV | 50 IP | 1.40 WHIP

Dominguez shined in 2022 and suffered a few setbacks in his 2023 follow up campaign. The hope was that he would return to form this season but that hasn’t been the case. Seranthony is 1-2 with a 9.58 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP in 12 appearances this season.

He’s pitched a total of 10.1 innings and over his last 5.2 innings pitched, he’s allowed eight hits, seven earned runs and three walks while striking out six.

So what now?

I’m not sure what the Phillies do with Seranthony Dominguez but at the very least, he can’t be put in high-leverage situations until he proves himself.

And no, the Phillies can’t option Seranthony Dominguez to Triple-A Lehigh Valley because he has accrued more than five years of MLB service time.

According to Major League Baseball, players with fewer than five years of Major League service time and an option year remaining are the only ones eligible to be optioned to the Minor Leagues. Players with more than five years of service time must consent to being optioned.

Would Seranthony Dominguez actually consent to being optioned to Lehigh Valley to figure things out? I have no idea but maybe the Phillies should at least ask him if he’d be willing?

We’ll see how Rob Thomson handles Dominguez moving forward but the confidence in the once promising reliever is clearly at an all-time low.

Up Next for the Phillies

Spencer Turnbull will return to the starting rotation for the Phillies tonight against Angels pitcher Tyler Anderson. Over his last three appearances, Turnbull has posted a 2.25 ERA, allowing just eight hits and nine walks while striking 17 batters.

On the season, Turnbull holds a 1.33 ERA and has a 2-0 record.

The Phillies had a chance to pull within a half-game of the Atlanta Braves last night as they lost to the Seattle Mariners but were unable to do so. They are now 19-11 on the season and remain 1.5 games back of the Braves in first place.