The Notes: Orion Kerkering’s Stretch since May 1

The Phillies have their strengths and weaknesses. They carry the best starting rotation in baseball, where they’ve thrown out seven different options who have all almost always put together at least a competitive outing. The infield still carries Bryce Harper and Trea Turner.

The bullpen hasn’t been a big strength for the entire season but has seen some recent developments that look encouraging.

On the surface, Orion Kerkering is one of them. Since May 1, Kerkering has worked in 14 games and 12 innings pitched. He has a 0.75 ERA in that span and opposing hitters are hitting just .195.

He has not allowed a lot of hard contact either, with an average exit velocity of just 83.5 mph and a hard hit…