Alvarado entered the game in the eighth inning with Michael Harris II up and the go-ahead run on first. He got Harris to ground out to shortstop and then came back out in the ninth inning after Trea Turner had put the Phillies up by one. Alvarado would then allow singles to Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley, but also get a ground out and strikeouts of Matt Olson and Sean Murphy to close out the win. It never seems easy for Alvarado, but he’s clearly the most valuable reliever in the Phillies’ bullpen right now and needs to be rostered in all formats.

Alvarado was summoned to protect a narrow one-run advantage and needed just 10 pitches (seven strikes) to set down the top of the Dodgers order including Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman. The hard-throwing 29-year-old southpaw has looked like one of the most dominant relievers in baseball since the start of spring training and appears to be firmly-entrenched as Philadelphia’s primary closer.

Alvarado has been in peak form this spring, throwing four scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. He averaged 99.5 mph with his sinker today, compared to 97.8 mph last season, and his cutter has seen an even bigger velocity gain. Jordan Romano figures to be the Phillies’ primary closer initially, but Alvarado would be nice to have stashed, particularly since Romano is far from a sure thing.