LOS ANGELES — Ranger Suarez had a strong, if variable, regular season. Aaron Nola had a poor season with one redeeming outing in late September against an eliminated team.
But Rob Thomson on Monday night gave Nola the vote of confidence to start Wednesday’s win-or-go-home Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
Comfort with the role seems to be the main decider.
“He’s more comfortable with starting, one,” Thomson said before a workout in Los Angeles Tuesday. “You’re going to see Ranger tomorrow. I’d be shocked if you don’t see Ranger tomorrow. So (Nola’s) more comfortable starting.
“The numbers on their lefties are very similar, Ranger vs. Nola. The trust factor, I have trust in both of them, don’t get me wrong. Nola has pitched some really great innings.”
Nola went 5-10 with a 6.01 ERA in 17 starts and 94.1 innings. He went on the IL in May with an ankle injury that turned into a rib fracture. Since returning Aug. 17, he was 4-3 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts. He threw eight innings in his last outing against Minnesota, allowing two hits and one run.
Nola has a 4.02 ERA in 10 career postseason appearances. In his last three road playoff starts — excepting 6.2 shutout innings in his debut in 2022 — Nola has allowed 15 earned runs in 14 innings.
Suarez went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA in a career-high 157.1 innings. In 11 starts since Aug. 1, he has a 4.10 ERA. He exited his last start early, hit by a line drive on the inner thigh, but Thomson said there were no physical limitations.
Suarez has a career 1.43 ERA in 10 appearances and 37.2 innings in the postseason. Two of them in 2022 were out of the bullpen. Suarez went 4.1 scoreless innings with the Phillies facing elimination in Game 4 of the 2024 NLDS at Citi Field.
Suarez might have helped a Phillies bullpen that has allowed five runs in two games. It has allowed five of seven inherited runners to score.
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Thomson listed Harrison Bader as a game-time decision for Game 3.
Bader delivered a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning of Monday’s 4-3 loss in Game 2 but had to be replaced by a pinch-runner.
“It’s better than yesterday,” Bader said. “Take it day by day, just focus on my work and see where we’re at come game time. I’m certainly optimistic about doing my best to see what I can bring the lineup on all sides of the ball. Hopefully, I can match what they need me to be out there.”
Bader went through running drills Tuesday. He said he still feels the tightness — which he clarified is in his medial hamstring, after the team had called it both a groin and a hamstring issue — in the batter’s box. He’s hoping to be able to play the outfield or do more than pinch-hit.
Bader doesn’t think he’ll get to 100 percent by Game 3, but he’s hoping to do enough. Thomson is seeing it as an all-or-nothing ability to be healthy enough to contribute.
“He’s still got to run,” Thomson said. “If he can run, he’s going to play center field.”
“You do your best,” Bader said. “It’s the playoffs. I just give whatever I can to help the team. And in that moment, it was just getting off an at-bat. Hopefully I can do more tomorrow, because it really bothered me not being out there with these guys.”
Acquired from Minnesota on July 31, Bader established himself as the starting center fielder, batting .305 in 50 games.
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The Phillies have no homers in two games of the NLDS. Not that the Dodgers are lighting it up either, Teoscar Hernandez’s decisive Game 1 dinger the only home run in two games in Philadelphia.
Bryce Harper puts the explanation squarely on the quality of pitching.
“It’s kind of crazy and weird that there’s only been one homer hit by both teams,” Harper said. “The pitching’s been good on both sides of the ball. It’s always tough in the postseason. You get into it, you’re excited, you’re ready to go and then you run into the juggernaut of pitching. That’s our team, and that’s their team, as well.”
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The Phillies will wear their powder blue jerseys in Game 3, a combination of player preference and team persistence.
Kyle Schwarber said it’s been an idea in the back of players’ heads for a while, to find a road game where matchups would allow them to wear the powder blues instead of the usual grays. It surfaced more than a week ago when Los Angeles was a possible destination, and the Phillies worked to clear it with MLB.
“I think we’re excited about it,” Schwarber said. “We like wearing these uniforms, and it’s not like it’s a superstitious thing or anything like that. We just like the way they look, like the way they feel.”
The Phillies wore the powder blues, their designated home Thursday jersey, only seven times, going 6-1. They were 41-40 on the road in grays. Schwarber said it’s not a superstition thing, though.
“We talked about it 10 days ago,” Thomson said. “Some of the players came to me because they like playing in them. We had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared that we can wear those on the road. They wanted to wear them.”
Asked if they’d go back to them in a Game 4, Thomson said yes: “I don’t think we brought the grays.”
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Nick Castellanos, who gave the Phillies life with a two-run single in the ninth inning of Game 2, was asked afterward about the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies have lost five of their last six playoff games.
His response was fair, if unlikely to be well received.
“I think that the stadium is alive on both sides,” he said. “When the game is going good, it’s wind at our back. But when the game is not going good, it’s wind in our face. So, the environment can be with us and the environment can be against us.”
Harper offered a different take Wednesday.
“I don’t feel that way,” Harper said. “I love playing at the Bank, I love our fans. I boo myself when I get out, so I’m the same way. I trust in what they do. They show up for us every day for us, day in and day out. So if we deserve to be booed, or if we deserve to, they pay their hard-earned dollar to come see us play and they deserve greatness out of us. I expect greatness out of me and my teammates as well.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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