Has Philadelphia Phillies Starter Suárez Righted the Ship?

The Philadelphia Phillies welcomed the return of Ranger Suárez and had his best 2023 mound appearance in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Mets.

Regina Ham | Jun 1, 2023

Has Philadelphia Phillies Starter Suárez Righted the Ship? /

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Philadelphia Phillies

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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Published Jun 1, 2023

REGINA HAM

Regina Ham is an editor and writer for Inside the Phillies. As an alumna of the University of Maryland-College Park, she studied both broadcast and multimedia journalism. A six-year veteran of the sports industry, she's worked in radio, television, and online media. You can follow her on Twitter @regina_ham or Instagram @reginamariesports. Upon her undergraduate education, Regina went to work in 2016 for Sirius XM-Satellite Radio on College Sports Nation/ESPNU for two years. During her time in school, Regina interned at a variety of Washington, D.C.-area media organizations, including NBC Sports Washington and WTOP. There she assisted in coverage of local MLB and NHL teams. She also interned down at WAAY 31 in Huntsville, AL and worked on stories regarding the local Minor League Baseball affiliate and SEC football. Regina worked in international sports television for almost four years, covering sports from MLS to the KHL and the KBO. She joined Philly Sports Network in 2022 and covers both the Phillies and Philadelphia Flyers before joining the Sports Illustrated network in 2023. You can follow her on Twitter @Regina_ham or on Instagram @reginamariesports. If you have any questions or comments, she can be reached at regina.ham28@gmail.com.