It's tempting to give Phillips a little bit of grace given the circumstances of his entry into the game and because of a mental mistake made by catcher Tyler Stephenson that allowed the inning to continue; however, this isn't his first recent disaster outing, as he walked all four batters that he faced in an appearance last weekend. For the season he's issued 21 walks in 20 innings and thus can't be a serious candidate for saves even with closer Emilio Pagan (hamstring) sidelined.

Closer Emilio Pagan was likely unavailable after working each of the past two days for Cincinnati, opening the door for Phillips to claim his first save opportunity of the year. Monday marked Phillips' first career major-league save, though the right-hander doesn't figure to see very much ninth-inning work in 2026 when Pagan or other Reds high-leverage arms are available.