Phillies Nuggets: Don Mattingly continues to show confidence in Alec Bohm; Duran back

PHILADELPHIA — Prior to Tuesday’s series opener with the Athletics at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies, as expected, activated closer Jhoan Duran. 

Duran had been on the injured list with a left oblique strain since April 18. Prior to his injury, Duran had a 1.35 ERA and was 5-for-5 on save opportunities across seven appearances. 

To make room for Duran on the 26-man roster, Trevor Richards was traded to the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations. Richards had a 2.08 ERA across 4 ⅓ innings for the Phillies over two appearances. 

Ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the A’s, here are some other nuggets of interest.

Phillies Staying The Course With Alec Bohm

Don Mattingly has repeatedly expressed confidence in Alec Bohm early on in his tenure as interim manager. 

That continued Tuesday, when he was asked when things might reach a point where the Phillies have to consider other options at the hot corner. 

"Whenever that is, it's not now," Mattingly said. "I've seen Alec, he's another big sample, he's always hit. Smaller sample, he's not hitting right now. And I think last year he may have started out slowly also. So it's not like this is totally out of the norm. Obviously, he doesn't wanna struggle, we don't want him to struggle. But from my standpoint, I'm confident in him bouncing back." 

Bohm enters play Tuesday hitting .159 with a .429 OPS. He's actually fielded pretty well at third base, with one defensive run saved across 284 1/3 innings at the hot corner. Still, Bohm has a minus-0.7 WAR, with FanGraphs saying that Rafael Devers and Cedric Mullins are the only qualified position players with worse marks than that. 

The problem is, top prospect Aidan Miller isn't healthy. Mattingly wasn't completely sure, but didn't believe when asked Tuesday that Miller is swinging a bat yet. Former manager Rob Thomson said on April 19 that Miller was doing everything but swinging a bat, and the Phillies were hopeful he would get back to swinging at some point that week. Apparently, that hasn't happened. 

Without Miller as an option, the best course of action may be continuing to hope Bohm hits his way out of this start. 

The Nuggets

• Ben Davis will be the color commentator for the A's series on NBC Sports Philadelphia, marking the first time he's been in the booth so far this season. Spencer McKercher will also have a report from the Coca-Cola Corner in the fourth inning Tuesday.

• Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz — who was born in Lancaster — is must-watch if you haven't seen him already. Nicknamed "Big Amish," Kurtz has already drawn 34 walks and has an .824 OPS in his sophomore season. 

• This was funny: 

Don Mattingly has a message for all the 65 year olds out there 😂

(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/I6HnfqUKO0

— OnPattison (@OnPattison) May 5, 2026

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