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Jordan Romano’s ERA Drops More than a Full Point After Clean Inning in Chicago
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Three up, three down for Jordan Romano on Sunday night in Chicago, as the Phillies took two of three from the Cubs to improve to 15-13 on the season. Romano, who has struggled immensely this year, made a nice play to end the game:
Jordan Romano knocks it down and makes the toss to secure the win! #SundayNightBaseball pic.twitter.com/ICxDjSy6do
— MLB (@MLB) April 28, 2025
Romano hadn’t pitched since last Wednesday in New York, when he came in for the bottom of the 10th with a one-run lead and couldn’t finish the job. After that performance, his ERA ballooned to 13.50 as he became tied for most runs allowed among all MLB relievers. He had blown two of his three save opportunities while conceding 15 opponent hits and three home runs in just nine and a third innings.
One clean inning on Sunday was good enough to drop his ERA more than a full point to 12.19. We’ll call that progress. Opposing batters are still slashing .341/.431/.659 against him, but you gotta start somewhere, and beating a good team on the road is a nice confidence boost. His slider doesn’t have much horizontal break at all, and never really has, but it’s the better pitch right now, thrown around 59% of the time at a little under 86 mph. The fastball is only averaging out around 95 mph, which is in MLB’s 74th percentile, and he’s been going to it about 40% of the time. If the slider keeps improving there might be a semblance of the Toronto player still there. That’s the guy the Phillies were hoping to get.
We are being pragmatic and hopeful. Go Phils.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com