The worst thing the Phillies can possibly do is allow Sunday’s misfortune to impact their handling of Alex McFarlane. They have 22 days until the NL wild-card round begins. They will play 19 games before then.

Mattingly doesn’t need to say it out loud; there is enough evidence that rookie righty Alex McFarlane has surpassed Kerkering in the hierarchy of trusted bullpen arms. McFarlane pitched a scoreless seventh inning, throwing eight pitches, all of them for strikes. The juxtaposition was a little too obvious.

He looks promising

Alex McFarlane announced his arrival in the majors on July 22 by getting Shohei Ohtani to fly out on a 100-mph fastball. It has only gotten better since then. Somehow. McFarlane is the Next Big Thing in the Phillies’ bullpen,

The Phillies will spend their September not only trying to win games, but trying to figure out how their bullpen will run in October.

McFarlane has a sparkling 2.06 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 47/18 K/BB ratio in 35 innings at Double-A. He’s a former starting pitcher, so even though many of his appearances have just been one inning, he should be able to give the Phillies a bit of length out of ...

PHOENIX — As the Diamondbacks’ next hitter stepped into the batter’s box, catcher Garrett Stubbs studied Alex McFarlane. Looking across the mound, he could see no hint of fear or nerves in the rookie reliever.

It makes too much sense for the Game 3 starter to be a reliever — and part of the plan — to record 27 outs in Game 1.

Phillies recalled RHP Alex McFarlane from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. McFarlane bolsters Philadelphia’s overworked bullpen heading into Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals. The 25-year-old made his big-league debut last month before being shipped back to ...

A sac fly and an RBI double get the Phillies out to a 2-0 leadPhillies hop on the Braves mistakes early on Sunday for 2-0 lead originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia