Philadelphia Phillies Staff Pulls Off Feat Not Seen in Four Decades

It's safe to say that the Philadelphia Phillies pitchers are utterly dominating their competition based on their recent performances.

Apr 19, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Spencer Turnbull (22) / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies were expected to have one of the best starting rotations coming into the season when they re-signed Aaron Nola and kept him paired with Zack Wheeler at the top of their rotation.

For as impressive as those two have been so far this year, it's been the other three starters who have stolen headlines.

Ranger Suarez currently has a 3-0 record and 1.73 ERA through his four starts. Christopher Sanchez has 2.53 ERA in his second full season as a starting pitcher.

But, the best story on the Phillies right now is Spencer Turnbull.

They signed the veteran to a one-year, $2 million contract this offseason, and he only was given a rotation spot because their expected starter Taijuan Walker was placed on the injured list in spring training.

After only starting seven games the past two years following his Tommy John surgery, Turnbull currently has an ERA of 1.23 through his four starts, which is the lowest on the team.

He punctuated his remarkable early stretch by taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Friday.

That highlighted an incredible run from Philadelphia's starters that hasn't been seen in over four decades.

Phillies pitchers have not allowed an extra-base hit in three straight games. They last did that July 15-17, 1982.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) April 20, 2024

What might be most impressive about these performances is that the Phillies' staff did this without Nola or Wheeler touching the mound.

Suarez got things started on Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies when he had a sensational complete game shutout. Sanchez followed that up with six shoutout innings of his own where he also struck out 10 batters. Then, after their off day, Turnbull delivered a gem in the series opener against the Chicago White Sox.

Outside of Gregory Soto's rough outing where he gave up five earned runs, the bullpen has also been lights out during this run.

That's a great sign for Philadelphia after their relievers got off to a brutal start to the season.

Now, Wheeler will take the mound on Saturday with tons of pressure on the his shoulders to continue this streak that was started by the tertiary starter in their rotation.