Has Philadelphia Phillies Starter Suárez Righted the Ship?
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Since coming off the injured list on May 13, Philadelphia Phillies starter Ranger Suárez had struggled, allowing 12 runs in 11 innings.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he wanted Suárez to have a quality pitch location and a good changeup in hopes he would be able to right the ship.
Tuesday night’s performance provided evidence of the change.
In Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the New York Mets, he pitched a season-high 6.2 innings. Suárez allowed two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out four. He also retired nine of the first 11 hitters he faced.
Suárez cruised through his outing, the lone mistake coming from a home run allowed to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor.
Despite the loss, Thompson was happy with Suárez’s performance.
“He was fantastic. He got ahead, threw strikes, had a good feel for his changeup, and threw good breaking balls,” said Thomson. “In reality, he is into the regular season -- for him. That was a really good outing against a really good hitting club.”
In his other outings, Suárez felt rushed by the pitch clock.
But on Tuesday, Suárez found a rhythm and appeared unaffected by the timer.
“If I fall behind in the count, what am I going to throw?” said Suárez. “If I’m ahead in the count, what am I going to throw? It’s little things like that -- mix and match -- and we see what happens.”
In three starts since returning from an elbow injury suffered during the World Baseball Classic Suárez has compiled a 1.642 WHIP. Dealing with extra base runners has bloated his pitch count and kept him from going deep into games.
Until Tuesday.
Against the Mets, he threw a first-pitch strike to 18 of the 26 batters he faced. Those strikes allowed him to get ahead in the count early and helped eliminate base path traffic.
It was a recipe for success.
Suárez is slated to take the mound again in Philadelphia’s weekend series against the Washington Nationals.
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