Can Ranger Suárez Handle Pitching in September?

Ranger Suárez didn't have his best stuff Monday night in Arizona. More accurately, he didn't have his best stuff in the fourth inning.

The southpaw threw 36 pitches in the frame before being lifted with two outs. He gave up three singles, two doubles, and a walk, and allowed six runs to cross the plate.

The implosion was not entirely his fault. Jean Segura bobbled a ground ball at second base that should have been the final out. Had he fielded it cleanly, Suárez would have gotten out of the inning having thrown just 66 pitches and only two runs would have scored. Instead, another runner came around to score and the bottom of the fourth continued.

Following that, the Diamondbacks scored three more times against Suárez, and while all three were unearned, it's not as if Suárez was completely blameless, either. He walked Arizona's nine-hole hitter to load the bases, and then gave up a three-run double on a poorly placed fastball to leadoff hitter Carson Kelly.

Manager Rob Thomson had seen enough at that point, and he removed the lefty from the game. Long story short, Suárez did not look his sharpest in Phoenix. He was not quite as bad as the score makes it seem, but error or no error, he struggled to prevent hits and keep runs off the board.

It was particularly discouraging to watch Suárez struggle on Monday evening, because he has been pitching so well as of late. Since the start of June, he is averaging six innings per start with a 2.50 ERA. He had not had a truly bad appearance since June 12, when he gave up four runs (two earned) in 4.1 IP – also against the Diamondbacks.

Considering how well Suárez has been pitching, and considering how this game could have gone very differently had Segura executed that one routine play, there is no reason to panic just yet. Every pitcher has a bad outing now and then, and for some reason Arizona seems to pose a challenge for the Phillies' crafty left-hander. This bad start could be nothing about an outlier.

However, it is worth considering that Suárez may be getting tired as he reaches the final stretch of his first full major league season. He has now pitched 123 2/3 innings on the year, 17 more than he did last season, and there are still 33 games remaining.

The last time he threw this many innings in a season was 2018, when he tossed 124.1 in the minors and 15 at the big league level. Additionally, he made a career-high 24 starts that year. He has made 23 starts so far in 2022.

Soon, Suárez will be carrying a heavier workload this season than ever before. That would be difficult for any young pitcher, but it must be especially hard for a pitcher who has thrown limited innings in each of the past three seasons.

Whether his bad outing against the Diamondbacks was the result of fatigue or merely an aberration, the Phillies must be careful with Suárez and his workload going forward. They will need him to be fresh in October, and if he keeps pitching six innings every five days for the next several weeks, he could find himself entirely burnt out by the end of the regular season.

Thankfully, Philadelphia has healthy rotation depth. Both Bailey Falter and Cristopher Sánchez pitched well in their latest spot starts (although Sánchez did struggle against Arizona on Monday), and there is reason to believe Zach Eflin could pitch some meaningful innings for Philadelphia before the season is done. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports the Phillies are also looking to add another arm before the end of the month.

Philadelphia will need to give Suárez some extra rest over the next five weeks, whether that means taking him out of games earlier or giving him extra rest in between starts. There's a good chance Thomson will do both.

Suárez has been fantastic this season, but even the most talented players have their limits. The Phillies will need him at his best in the postseason, so now is the time to start preserving his arm.

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