A day after taxing their bullpen in a 6-1 loss to the New York Mets, the Phillies brought up right-handed reliever Alex McFarlane from Double A Reading for Monday night’s series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. McFarlane takes the place of right-hander Alan Rangel, who had been filling the problematic fifth spot in the starting rotation. Rangel was tagged for five runs in the first two innings of Sunday’s loss. The hard-throwing McFarlane recorded a 2.06 ERA with 12 saves in 32 games at Reading. He had been ticketed for a promotion to Triple A when a need for a fresh arm arose in Philadelphia. Entering play Monday, McFarlane had yet to throw a pitch in the majors. He spent a day with the big club earlier this season but did not pitch. It remains to be seen how long McFarlane will stay with the Phillies. There’s a chance he could get some work in the series against the Dodgers and pitch well enough to stick around. But there’s also a chance his stay could be brief. The No. 5 spot in the rotation comes up again on Saturday against the New York Yankees. The Phils are undecided if they will use the bullpen to get through that game or add a starting pitcher from inside or outside the organization. The team would rather not skip over the fifth spot and move the rest of the rotation up a day, as would be possible because Thursday is an off day. “In general, we want guys to get their rest,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s not a situation where our depth is at a point where you lose one of those guys … We’re going to need to keep them strong all year. So, we’re going to be careful with that.” The Phillies are actively looking to trade for a back-end starting pitcher. If they can’t pull off a deal before Saturday, they could bring up 32-year-old right-hander Brian Keller from Triple A. Keller has pitched in the Red Sox and Yankees organizations. He spent time in Japan, had Tommy John surgery, and signed a minor-league deal with the Phillies in May. He has allowed just two runs in his last four starts while going six innings in three of them. How big of a problem is the fifth spot in the Phillies’ rotation? Well, the team is 5-20 when anyone other than Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, Jesus Luzardo or Aaron Nola starts. The ERA in that spot is 7.33. ...read more read less