The Phillies acquired veteran reliever David Hale from the Yankees and are on the verge of adding more significant relief help from the Red Sox, but the bullpen news wasn't all good on Friday.
Lefty Jose Alvarez, the Phillies' most reliable reliever this season, was placed on the 10-day injured list with a testicular contusion after he was struck there by a 105 mph line drive Thursday afternoon. He remarkably finished the play in Game 1 of the Phils' doubleheader in Buffalo, under-handing the ball to first base before falling to the ground.
"Obviously it's something we're concerned about," Phillies manager Joe Girardi said prior to Friday night's series opener in Atlanta. "We'll know more probably in the next couple of days, how long it could last. Is it 10 days? Is it more? We've just got to be patient right now and kind of let it go through the courses it needs to go through."
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The Phillies recalled left-hander JoJo Romero from Lehigh Valley to fill Alvarez's spot on the active roster. Romero has been the Phils' 29th man on doubleheader days but has not yet appeared in a major-league game.
Alvarez came over from the Angels in a trade in December 2018 for reliever Luis Garcia. In 75 appearances with the Phillies, Alvarez has a 3.17 ERA. He hasn't been scored upon in 57 of those 75 appearances.