Héctor Neris’ 11.12 ERA through eight appearances this season is troubling for the Phillies, to say the least. The right-hander opened the season as the closer, and he is supposed to be their most reliable arm in a 10-man bullpen.

Neris ignited the Braves’ 6-5 comeback victory on Saturday night at Truist Park in Atlanta. He allowed a line-drive single to Dansby Swanson and walked Freddie Freeman to get things going in the eighth inning. Marcell Ozuna’s ground-ball single scored a run to cut the Phillies’ lead to 5-4.

Neris threw six splitters to the Braves on Saturday, but they never swung. It was just the second time in his career that he threw five or more splitters in a game and the opposing team did not swung. The only other time it happened: April 27, 2016.

But it seems to be part of a trend. Neris’ strikeout rate (20.6 percent) and whiff rate (30.5 percent) are at the lowest marks of his career. His walk rate (14.7 percent) is well above his career average (8.3 percent).

Neris’ splitter velocity is 84.8 mph, which is down from 86.9 mph last season. He is throwing his splitter for strikes only 25 percent of the time, which is down from 37.1 percent last season and 44.2 percent in 2018.

“It’s just not getting the swings and misses that maybe we’re used to seeing, and some of it is location,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said Sunday afternoon. “We’ve just got to continue to work on getting it down. And the big thing with his split is that it has to look like a strike out of the hand, and then it can disappear below the zone. But if it’s a ball out of the hand, it doesn’t do any good, and when it’s up, it’s not any good. So there’s a fine line that he has to walk with that.”

Girardi, however, said he plans to stick with Neris in high-leverage situations.

“We haven’t changed our thought process about Héctor,” Girardi said. “We’ll continue to look at matchups that are favorable for him and try to use him in those spots. But we really haven’t said we’re not going to use Héctor in high-leverage situations.”

Extra bases
• Left-hander Ranger Suárez threw a one-inning simulated game Saturday at the team’s alternate site in Allentown, Pa. It was his second simulated game since rejoining the team. Girardi said it went well, but Suárez needs at least a couple more outings before he is considered a potential option for the bullpen. Suárez is recovering from a difficult bout with COVID-19.

• Right-hander David Robertson threw a bullpen session with batters standing in the box. He will continue to throw and hopes to be back next month. Robertson is recovering from Tommy John surgery.