By DENNIS DEITCH
ddeitch@delcotimes.com
PHILADELPHIA - In recent days Tyler Cloyd had been getting plenty of accolades for his monstrous 2012 season in the minor leagues.
Wednesday he got the only reward that really matters to a prospect: The Call.
Thanks to a combination of poorly prepared food ingested by Cole Hamels and a decision that Vance Worley’s spiraling season should end early so he could get to the operating table for elbow surgery, Cloyd joined the Phillies’ rotation and was on the hill to work against the Mets.
The result was like a summary of what sketpical scouts often say about the right-hander: Not pretty or overpowering, but effective. Unfortunately for the rookie, a lineup stacked in the back half with a few guys who were his Triple-A teammates not long ago didn’t offer much support in a 3-2 loss at Citizens Bank Park.
Despite a two-run homer by Lucas Duda in the third inning, a few jams that needed escaping and a handful of hard-hit outs snagged by backpedaling outfielders, Cloyd got through six innings having allowed three runs and keeping the Phillies in the game, trailing by a run when he was replaced by reliever Jeremy Horst in the top of the seventh.
For a while it seemed Cloyd would meet a much less flattering ending in his big-league debut. He gave up two hits in the first inning, a run in the second and the two-run bomb by Duda in the third. But he rallied to retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, getting five strikeouts. It wasn’t on the level of what he did at Reading and Lehigh Valley this year -- a combined 15-1, 2.26 ERA in 26 starts, a performance that got him the starting nod in the Triple-A All-Star Game, the International League MVP award and the Paul Owens Award as the Phillies’ top minor-league pitcher.
However, for a guy who only touched 90 mph on the radar gun with one of his 102 pitches and often floated 82 mph cutters toward the plate, this was a debut that deeemed him worthy of four or five more trips to the hill in September.
He’d like to get a little more run support along the way. The Phils touched Mets rookie Matt Harvey for a run on a Ryan Howard sacrifice fly in the first inning and another in the second when Jimmy Rollins followed a Cloyd walk with a double to right. But the bats dried up quickly from there.
There will be a permanent place in the rotation for Cloyd the rest of this season, since Worley finally got the call from the front office informing him enough was enough. Worley was 2-4 with a 5.20 ERA since the All-Star break, and 0-3, 6.75 in his last five starts.
While the Phillies and their medical staff insisted the loose bodies in Worley’s elbow weren’t detrimental to his health provided they didn’t cause another irritation, pitching coach Rich Dubee believed the knowledge that his arm was destined for surgery played with Worley’s confidence.
“I don’t know if it was as much as it being painful (as) it weighs on his mind,” Dubee said.“His mound presence just hasn’t been the same. He’s been putting hot stuff on his arm, and it get to the point where he might have been able to pitch through it the rest of the year - we don’t think he would’ve done any damage - but his presence on the mound hasn’t been good.
“It’s hard to play this game with divided attention. You have to be focused.”
Worley finished the season 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in 23 starts. Dubee assured the bespectacled right-hander that he’ll have a rotation spot there for the reclaiming come spring.
“He has an inside edge for being in the rotation,” Dubee said. “We have to get him fixed up and see how he comes back. Hopefully he’ll come back like Cole (Hamels) did (after a subpar 2009 season).”