Matt Strahm took over for Aaron Nola with a one-run lead in the seventh Friday night and shut it down.
With one out already on the board, the left-hander forced St. Louis' Masyn Winn to fly out and then struck out Dylan Carlson swinging on back-to-back fastballs to keep the game moving.
He got the Phillies out of the frame in short order, again, and they went on to win 4-2 down at Citizens Bank Park to become the first club to reach the 40-win mark on the season.
And they've been getting contributions all over the roster to do it, but when it comes to Strahm and his second season in Philadelphia especially, he's been throwing like an All-Star.
If the 32-year old is going to make his first-ever bid to the mid-summer classic, these are the numbers that are rapidly building his case (with all stats coming from either FanGraphs, Baseball Savant, or Baseball-Reference)...
0.78
Strahm's ERA after Friday night's win, the fourth-best mark in baseball among qualified relief pitchers.
0.74
Strahm's WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched), which ranks seventh in baseball among qualified relievers.
0.65
Strahm's FIP (fielder independent pitching rate), the lowest mark in baseball among all qualified relievers.
1.2
Strahm's WAR (wins above replacement), which ranks third among all qualified relievers.
11.00
Strahm's strikeouts-walks rate, the fifth-highest mark among relievers.
12.91
Strahm's strikeouts per nine rate, which is the 10th best in baseball for a relief pitcher – though former Phils closer Craig Kimbrel, now in Baltimore, is ahead of him in ninth at a 13.29 clip.
99
Strahm's strikeout percentage, per Baseball Savant, which charts in baseball's top percentile.
21
The number of consecutive appearances Strahm made, from March 31 up to May 27, without surrendering a run. The streak was broken with May 28's 1-0 loss at San Francisco. However...
23
The number of consecutive appearances since Strahm has surrendered an earned run, which has been going since March 31. Atlanta tagged him for two on Opening Day back on March 29 and he's been blanking opponents ever since.
0
The number of home runs hit off of Strahm in 24 appearances and 23.0 innings pitched so far. In other words, all of them.
0.00
Strahm's ERA through all 13 of his appearances for the month of May. He gave up only five hits and two walks while striking out 17 in total.
Author's note...
In many of the current reliever ranking categories, there's one other name in particular that is consistently up there alongside Strahm: Oakland righthander Mason Miller.
The Phillies' bullpen has some solid punch to it right now between Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, and José Alvarado. But...
Hey, you can never have too many arms.
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