PHILADELPHIA — By the time the Phillies summoned well-traveled veteran Lou Trivino from the bullpen Thursday afternoon, it was 104 degrees outside and felt even warmer than that on the field. A 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates slogged to the end. Only three teams have leaned on their relievers to cover more innings over the last two weeks than the Phillies.There are stretches like this every season, and they tend to expose the weakest parts of a bullpen. Most teams have a soft middle; those pitchers surrendered all six runs in Thursday’s loss. Those are not the relievers anyone expects to be needed come October. When a team’s starters pitch deep, bullpen management is much easier. This last turn through the Phillies’ rotation yielded starts of 4, 4 2/3, 7, 4 1/3 and 5 innings.“The off day,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said, “definitely is coming at a good time for us.”There are nine more games before the All-Star break and 30 days until the trade deadline. The Phillies have won 73 percent of their games started by Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo, which bodes well for October so long as the Phillies make it there and with those three starters intact. They are, right now, in fine shape.It’s reasonable to have two concurrent conversations: The Phillies need all of their starters to pitch deeper during the summer to protect the middle of the bullpen. They should also wonder if they have enough relievers to trust in the later innings.Two weeks without Brad Keller, signed to be the setup man to Jhoan Duran, have shown how shaky things are. Orion Kerkering has pitched well, but might be better suited for the sixth or seventh inning. Jonathan Bowlan has been a fine middle reliever who might be able to handle some higher-leverage spots. None of the lefties, José Alvarado included, have been consistent. Alvarado allowed two more runs in Thursday’s loss. He has a 6.10 ERA.José Alvarado has a 6.91 ERA over his last 15 appearances. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)The Phillies might have more pressing needs, but if the last two Octobers are instructive, they will think hard about fortifications to the bullpen. It was not the only unit that failed the Phillies in past postseasons, but it was a glaring weakness. The Phillies’ bullpen posted a 6.82 ERA in 30 1/3 innings over the 2024 and 2025 National League Division Series. It started to crack in the middle of the 2023 National League Championship Series. The characters have changed. The problems were similar.Keller, who has been sidelined since June 14 with right elbow inflammation, should return next week. He is scheduled for a rehab outing Friday night with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in Rochester, N.Y.How Keller looks over the next month could significantly influence the club’s deadline plans. The Phillies signed him to a two-year, $22 million deal because he was one of the better setup men in the sport last season. Relievers are fickle, probably the most difficult cohort to project year to year.Keller was average or worse during the first 10 weeks of the season. He pitched with elbow soreness that ranged in severity depending on the day. But, in retrospect, Keller said it was something he should have been more vocal about.“Obviously, when guys are trying to pitch through stuff, they can still be … he was semi-successful,” Mattingly said. “It probably didn’t look as clean as we would have liked. There was traffic, a little bit of wildness, which probably comes from that. So, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how it comes back. We feel good about it.”In the past, the Phillies have had four reliable starters and planned to make one of them a reliever come October. That was the idea last season — either Luzardo or Ranger Suárez would be a postseason reliever — then Wheeler succumbed to injury. The Phillies do not have that luxury in 2026, at least not right now.Internally, there isn’t much. Gage Wood will pitch at Citizens Bank Park this month in MLB’s Futures Game, probably as the starter for the National League. He is on an innings limit this season and, although the Phillies view him as a starter, they could be compelled to accelerate his timeline as a late-inning reliever if the need arises.They have insisted on keeping Alex McFarlane, a hard-throwing righty reliever, at Double-A Reading. The 25-year-old prospect could benefit from throwing a few more strikes. But he’s passed many tests in Double A, posting a 31 percent strikeout rate and a 2.43 ERA in 29 2/3 innings.McFarlane has yet to throw on back-to-back days in the minors. The Phillies had him do a rare multi-inning appearance this week; McFarlane threw a season-high 32 pitches. He allowed two runs in that outing. He is a former starter, but his stuff has played better in shorter bursts.The Phillies have their reasons; it might be time in July to show a little aggression. Knowing more about what they do or do not have before the trade deadline could help them make smarter decisions.They will tinker with the pitching mix during this three-city, Midwest trip (Kansas City, Cincinnati, Detroit). Alan Rangel was fine Thursday but needed 90 pitches to record four scoreless innings. The Phillies optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game. He allowed five runs over 13 innings in three outings since being called up June 22. Now, the Phillies will use the schedule as a chance to try some different things.They needed 199 pitches Thursday to survive nine innings in hellish weather. It’ll be two weeks before the Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park. And the front office will be closer to a deadline with important implications.