Philadelphia Phillies fans still remember the night of Sept. 25, 2023. That was the evening that ascendant rookie Orion Kerkering made his MLB debut against the New York Mets in the eighth inning in front of a packed Citizens Bank Park crowd. Following an inning of work that saw Kerkering record his first two MLB strikeouts, the TV cameras panned into the crowd, where Kerkering’s father had tears of joy streaming down his face after watching his son’s debut. It was pure baseball cinema.
While Kerkering has had a lot of success through his first 39 regular season games as a major league pitcher, baseball is a game where failure is an inevitable part of the equation. That was certainly the case on Friday when Kerkering had a rough go of it in his latest relief appearance.
Phillies rookie Orion Kerkering sees an unbelievable streak come to an end
Kerkering was called on to protect a lead on Friday night with the Phillies up 7-4 in the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Due to an uncharacteristically brief five-inning start from Aaron Nola, Thomson needed some quality innings out of his bullpen. Following a scoreless sixth from Gregory Soto, Kerkering was handed the ball for the start of the seventh.
It was pretty clear from the get-go that the young right-hander didn’t have it. Kerkering allowed three hits and two earned runs to make it a 7-6 ball game. Suddenly, the Phillies found themselves with less of a cushion. That set the stage for José Alvarado, who surrendered two runs in the ninth, leading to a frustrating 8-7 defeat.
As for Kerkering, the appearance turned out to be the worst of his MLB career.
According to Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia, it was the first time in 46 MLB appearances (including seven playoff appearances) that Kerkering had allowed more than one run in a ball game. That’s an impressive streak by all measures, even more impressive when you consider that Kerkering appeared in more postseason games for the Phillies last year than he did in the regular season.
It’s been promising to see Kerkering develop into one of manager Rob Thomson’s most trusted bullpen arms this season. While still in the process of getting his feet wet as an MLB pitcher, Kerkering has impressed in his 36 2/3 innings of work, with a 2-1 record and 1.72 ERA. Using his triple-digit fastball more, in addition to his elite slider, Kerkering has 41 strikeouts on the season and looks the part of a potential future closer.
