Stephan is 'nails' as he secures series-opening win vs. Phillies

CLEVELAND -- When a reliever is coming off of a bad stretch, there's a balancing act for the coaching staff: figuring out when it’s best to trust him in the usual, high-leverage moments he’s become familiar with pitching in and when it’s best to turn to him in less stressful scenarios to help build back his confidence.

When it came to Trevor Stephan on Friday night, the Guardians had no problem throwing him right back in the fire -- a move that certainly paid off.

The Guardians only received four innings of work from starter Gavin Williams in the series opener against the Phillies. The bullpen had to be deployed early and it ran into some trouble again despite the efforts Cleveland’s offense was making to create a more comfortable lead.

But when Stephan entered the game in the seventh and pitched through the eighth with a one-run lead, he didn’t let the Phillies gain any more ground, as Cleveland held onto a 6-5 victory over Philadelphia at Progressive Field.

“[Stephan is] nails,” Guardians center fielder Myles Straw said. “[Manager Terry Francona and the staff] throwing [Stephan] back out there in the eighth in this kind of game just shows they have the confidence in him as we all do and he did what he usually does.”

Stephan emerged as one of the most reliable relief options for the Guardians last season. He was excellent, again, through the first two months in 2023. But since the calendar flipped to June, he’s given up at least one run in four of his 18 outings.

Overall, that’s still a dependable, sharp arm for Cleveland to turn to. It just so happened that three of those four outings resulted in blown saves, which magnified his random struggles.

The most recent rocky outing for Stephan came in Texas last weekend. The Guardians had a three-run lead entering the eighth inning against one of the hottest lineups in baseball.

But Stephan was only able to record one out before he gave up four runs that led to Cleveland’s defeat. Since then, he was able to work a scoreless inning in a blowout against the Pirates before he was back in his usual setup role in the eighth of a one-run contest on Friday.

“We had kind of a tough road trip,” Francona explained before the game. “It’s kind of hard for me because I do believe in them, [but] knowing that they’ve gone through a tough week, how much rope you give a guy.

"Because you believe in him and you know they can do it, but at the same time, they’ve had a tough week. So, that can be a little challenging. But I think to expect them to be flawless is probably not fair. It hurts when it happens, but it’s part of the game.”

The Guardians had created a four-run lead, but a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper before reliever Nick Sandlin gave up back-to-back long balls quickly cut the lead to just one run. That’s when the bullpen phone rang for Stephan.

“Just the way the bullpen has been going lately, I wanted to be in that situation,” Stephan said, “so it was nice to get that opportunity.”

Stephan picked up an out on the first ball he threw, forcing Brandon Marsh to ground out to second. After a Jake Cave strikeout, the Guardians preserved their lead. When it came to the eighth, Francona didn’t hesitate to throw Stephan back out on the field and the righty enjoyed a 1-2-3 frame.

“He was really sharp tonight,” Guardians backstop David Fry said. “That’s what he usually is. He’s nails back there. It was good to see him go back out and put guys away.”

The bullpen has had a strange year. It’s collectively blown the second most saves in the Majors (20) and has struggled to keep runs off the board over the last week. But still, the team had one of the best first halves of any ‘pen in the game.

And if the Guardians are going to overcome the challenges of having Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie on the IL while having three rookies in the rotation, this bullpen will need to be as reliable as ever.

Stephan getting back on the right track is the first step.

“If you look at our numbers, our bullpen is awesome,” Fry said. “Top of the league in just about everything. One or two games doesn’t define them and they’re always getting the job done.”