Suarez pitches 5 shutout innings to lead Phillies to 5th straight win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
MIAMI – When lefthander Ranger Suarez came off the injured list on August 24 and threw five strong innings against the Royals, allowing one run and striking out six, the sigh of relief from the Phillies executive suite, clubhouse and dugout seemed roughly Equivalent to a Category 2 tropical storm off the coast of Florida.
With Taijuan Walker then in the process of pitching his way from the rotation to the bullpen and the No. 5 spot in the rotation unsettled, to say the least, having an at-the-top-of-his-game Suarez to go with Cy Young candidate Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez, put the Phillies in an enviable position going down the home stretch and into the postseason.
That sense of quiet elation lasted exactly six days.
His next time to the mound Suarez, who was 10-1 with a 1.81 earned run average through his first 13 starts, was unhittable through the first two innings … before being tagged for four runs on five hits, including two homers, in the next two before heading for the showers.
Everybody insisted there was no physical reason a pitcher who had been sidelined twice already with lower back issues had lost it so quickly, so completely. So, yeah, the just-turned-29-year-old had something to prove when he took the mound Thursday night against the Marlins at LoanDepot Park.
And the Phillies exhaled. Again.
Suarez pitched five shutout innings on three hits and two walks in what turned out to be an uncomplicated 5-2 Phillies win. He struck out four.
There are still questions to be answered. His velocity was down a little, about two miles an hour on his fastballs. Manager Rob Thomson lifted him after just 82 pitches, meaning the bullpen was called on to fill up four more innings. But it was unquestionably a step in the right direction.
“He pitched,” Thomson said, stressing the second word. “Him and Wheeler and Nola. Those guys know how to pitch when they don’t have their good fastball. They know how to change speeds and get chases. I think he used more of his secondary pitches than he usually does just because he didn’t have the velo. He’s smart. He knows what he’s doing out there.”
Suarez was operating under a soft 90-pitch limit, which is why he came out when he did.
“I didn’t want to send him back out for one hitter and I felt like he was good right there. Next time he can probably go to 95, almost…