PHILADELPHIA — A look at Ranger Suarez’s pitching line entering the seventh inning Sunday would’ve brought a few possibilities to mind.
Safe to say hardly any involved him trudging off the mound 10 pitches later and the Phillies ending the frame with Matt Strahm screaming into his glove about a lead that vanished.
In a microcosm of the way things seemed to have worked for Suarez this year, he was brilliant for six no-hit innings … yet both he and the Phillies left Citizens Bank Park without a win.
An eighth-inning home run by Bryan De La Cruz off the struggling Seranthony Dominguez and the Phils’ inability to tack on against the Marlins’ seven pitchers gave Miami a 5-4 win in the getaway rubber game.
It left Suarez with nothing to show for a day in which he took a no-hitter into the seventh at just 77 pitches. He remains stuck on two wins, his ERA edged up slight to 3.93 and the Phillies ended up losing the series against a team 4.5 games behind them in the Wild Card hunt.
“I felt really good overall,” Suarez said via a translator. “I felt I was locating my pitches well today, especially the breaking ball was working well for me.”
“I was really happy with what Ranger did,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He was fantastic. He had everything going, really. Curveball was sharp. Changeup was really good, really effective. Fastball looked like he was locating it really well and filling up the zone. He made a great play defensively.”
Everything went swimmingly for Suarez through six innings: His strikeout of Josh Bell a career-high 10th of the game. He opened the seventh by getting Jake Burger to fly out lazily to center.
Then trouble started. De La Cruz, whom he’d struck out twice, walked on four pitches. Dane Myers stung the first pitch he saw, a changeup that Suarez actually kept low, 365 feet to deep right center, beyond the leap of Brandon Marsh. A mound meeting and one pitch later, Suarez’s day was done, Yuli Gurriel smacking a double down the left-field line to plate two.
“I missed a pitch,” Suarez said of the delivery to Gurriel, a 92.6 mph fastball that stayed middle-in and thigh high. “I didn’t locate one pitch, and they did damage on that pitch.”
Suarez’s hope of a win ended three batters later when nine-hitter Nick Fortes punched a single through the hole at shortstop off Strahm to score Gurriel and tie the game at 3.
De La Cruz played the hero in the eighth with his third go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later this season and second of the week. Dominguez’s 2-2 sinker was flat, center-cut and elevated, De La Cruz depositing it into the greenery in front of the batter’s eye 421 feet away.
Suarez is a key cog in the Phillies’ postseason aspirations. They wouldn’t have a 2022 pennant flying if not for his versatility in the rotation and the bullpen.
This year has been more stop/start, missing April with an elbow issue from the World Baseball Classic, then a run of three straight starts allowing two runs or fewer in August before a hamstring issue shelved him. He threw four innings in his return from the IL last Sunday.
This outing against Miami was a step forward, albeit one no one felt like celebrating afterward.
“I have felt good overall,” Suarez said. “Last year was a little different. This year, I’ve been hurt a couple of times. I’ve been dealing with the elbow thing and the hamstring, but other than that, it’s been good.”
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NOTES >> Rhys Hoskins (knee) will continue working off the tee and taking dry swings. He also ran Sunday with change of direction and played catch. Thomson said it’ll still be, “a little bit” before Hoskins can hit soft toss, a precursor to the batting cage, live BP and hitting full velocity. … Nick Castellanos responded to being dropped to eighth in the order by going 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs Saturday. He added an RBI double in the ninth Sunday. The All-Star had started the month 2-for-29. Castellanos may hit eight for some time moving forward. “If we get a true lefty starter, he’s had pretty good numbers against lefties,” Thomson said. “We’ll probably take a look at it.” … Bryce Harper singled in the first inning Sunday, his fourth straight game with a hit after an 0-for-20 slump. … Searching for silver linings, Thomson was pleased that he kept his bullpen fresh, including a clean ninth from Dylan Covey. The Phillies have a doubleheader Monday with Atlanta. Charlie Morton (14-11, 3.32 ERA) will tangle with Taijuan Walker (15-5, 4.15) in the opener at 1:05. Michael Lorenzen (11-6, 3.49) will take on what may be a Braves bullpen game in the 6:40 nightcap to open a four-game set.
Source: Berkshire mont
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