CINCINNATI — It’s hard to overstate how scattered Seranthony Domínguez looked on Wednesday night in the Phillies’ 7-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He needed 32 pitches to get through two-thirds of the sixth inning. Only half of those pitches were strikes. After Spencer Turnbull gave the Phillies five innings of three-hit, one-run ball, Domínguez allowed four earned runs on just two hits with two walks and one strikeout.

He entered this season in conversation for the closer role, but hasn’t been reliable enough to warrant those outings. He has yet to pitch in the ninth inning in 2024. After his latest outing, Domínguez now has a 7.56 ERA over 10 appearances.

He spent the spring with the goal of getting into more favorable counts more often, but has struggled to do that. Domínguez is striking batters out at a higher rate but is also allowing more hard contact and more home runs than he ever has.

The Phillies tried to rally but did not do enough to pull out a win. Alec Bohm hit an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the third to give them a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning, with two outs and Bohm on first base and Trea Turner on third, the Phillies tried to execute a double steal. It did not work.

Turner didn’t wait for catcher Tyler Stephenson to release the ball, and took off for home. He was caught in a run down and picked off. An inning later, Johan Rojas lined a single to left field with a runner on second to give them an insurance run, and Whit Merrifield hit an RBI double in the seventh to bring the Phillies within one run of tying it, 5-4.

Gregory Soto pitched the seventh inning. He started his outing with a strikeout of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, but allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Santiago Espinal gave the Reds a 6-4 lead. The only reliever who didn’t allow an earned run on Wednesday was Matt Strahm, who entered for Dominguez in the sixth, with runners on first and second, and allowed two hits with one strikeout.

Jose Alvarado, who pitched the ninth, induced a groundout, and allowed a single to Elly De La Cruz, who proceeded to steal second base, third base, and scored on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to make it a 7-4 ballgame. The Reds stole five bases against the Phillies on Wednesday; three were from De La Cruz.

The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. They are now 15-10 on the season.

Turnbull shines again

The Phillies have yet to make an official announcement on whether Turnbull will move to the bullpen when Taijuan Walker returns to the rotation, but he has certainly made the most of his five starts. Turnbull now has a 1.33 ERA with 22 strikeouts. Eight of those 22 strikeouts came against the Reds on Wednesday night, in what could very well be his last start for a while.

Turnbull threw 89 pitches, of which 49 were strikes. He struggled with his control a bit — allowing three walks — but his eight strikeouts were a season-high. He allowed one run on three hits, including one solo home run to Will Benson in the bottom of the third.

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