Fantastic Suarez, Harper calls late, Phillies play great D to win series originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
So that’s what a full spring training can do for Ranger Suarez…
All the recent talk about what a full complement of Grapefruit League starts could mean for the Phillies left-hander, after his season debut was delayed by more than a month in three of the last four years, proved right from the start.
Suarez dominated the Rockies in nine of the quietest innings you’ll ever see, pitching the first National League shutout of 2024 to improve to 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA in four starts. The Phillies won all four.
The rotation has been the Phils’ main strength through six series. Their starters have a 2.69 ERA, the best in the National League.
Suarez started faster than ever. There were two spring trainings where he dealt with visa issues. Last year there was the World Baseball Classic and a forearm injury. But this time he was ready for opening weekend and the Phillies have been a much better team because of it.
Suarez’s career high for innings is 155⅔. One of his goals this season is to reach 175-180. Only 31 pitchers in the entire league last season threw 175 innings and the Phillies feel they could have as many as four. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola do this annually, Suarez hopes to take the next step with durability, Cristopher Sanchez has the kind of frame the organization thinks can handle a heavy workload, and Taijuan Walker, who has begun a successful rehab at Tuesday night with Triple Lehigh Valley, which surpassed 170 just a year ago.
Suarez didn’t put a runner in scoring position until the sixth inning of the Phillies’ 5-0 victory. He needed just 25 pitches to record the first nine strikeouts. He did well in an advantageous matchup against a Rockies team with no offense and even fewer hits from the right side.
As always, he assumed his position with aplomb. Suarez fielded comebacks in the first, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. He seems to have at least two in every start. If he qualifies for the Gold Glove award this season (at least 138 innings in the first 138 games), this could be the year he wins.
The Phillies’ great defense closed out the top of the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Bryce Harper made it heads up after Ryan McMahon hit a soft ball between short and third. McMahon was safe at first base, but Alan Trejo overran the third base bag and Harper raced across the diamond to get him out on a run.
With two outs in the seventh, Elehuris Montero hit a ball off the wall in left field, but Brandon Marsh caught it with his bare hand and fired a perfect shot to Bryson Stott at second base, jumping to celebrate with center fielder Johan Rojas.
And in the eighth, Alec Bohm made a diving run to steal extra bases from Michael Toglia and keep Suarez’s pitch count low enough for him to start the ninth and finish what he started.
Marsh’s defensive play was the loudest moment of the night for a crowd of 35,010 until Harper stepped to the plate in the eighth inning and hit a two-run homer to right field. He drove in the Phils’ final three runs with that home run and a sixth-inning double to left center. When Harper hits, the crack of the bat sounds different. Both balls traveled 100 mph off his bat.
The Phillies led from the first inning thanks to a two-run shot by JT Realmuto. They had scored just two runs in the first inning of their previous five games combined.
The Phillies go for a sweep Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. when Sanchez counters right-hander Ryan Feltner, who shut them out for 5⅔ innings last April at Citizens Bank Park but couldn’t get out of the second inning against them three weeks later in Colorado .
