The National League’s most popular pitcher and hitter powered another Phillies victory originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
SAN DIEGO – Nothing has changed for Ranger Suarez as his string of scoreless innings became one of the most talked about elements of the Phillies’ hot start.
No increase in adrenaline, no tighter grip on the ball or feeling extra pressure.
The calm and collected lefty just keeps working fast, working ahead in counts, mastering five different pitches and finding his position like there’s a magnet in his glove.
Knowing Saturday that another shutout could move him to second all-time on the Phillies’ consecutive scoreless innings list, Suarez almost got there, trailing by four outs. He eliminated the Rockies 11 nights ago and was just as dominant in Saturday’s 5-1 win.
Was he aware of how high the total had reached?
“I don’t know, and I don’t know if he cares,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s just having fun playing baseball right now.”
San Diego had just three hits off Suarez, an infield single in the first inning, a one-out single in the third by a batter who was promptly retired, and Eguy Rosario’s solo home run with two outs in the eighth.
Suarez’s streak ended after 32⅔ scoreless innings. He is 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA. He’s obviously not going to finish with an ERA in the low 1.00s, but something in the 2.00s looks more and more realistic by the week and would represent tremendous value from a “No. 3” starter.
He also has a 2.48 road ERA as of 2021, best in all of baseball among 61 pitchers with as many innings pitched.
“If I keep it up, okay, but that wasn’t my focus,” Suarez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “My focus was on throwing good innings and helping the team win. I’m happy that we got this streak going, this performance. If it happened it would be perfect, I would be super excited about it have been, but my mentality at this point is to help the team win and that’s exactly what we did.”
If Suarez is the Phillies’ most popular player, Alec Bohm isn’t far behind. His two-run homer in the first inning extended an 11-game hitting streak in which Bohm has 11 extra base hits and 18 RBI.
In his third at bat, Bohm drove in two more runs with a two-out, bases loaded, line-drive single to right field. He might just be your National League player of the week.
“That’s what Bohmer does,” Thomson said, “he draws the breaking ball and hits the fastball the other way.”
Driving in four runs off Dylan Cease, who had held right-handed hitters to 1-for-52 this season entering the evening, was no small feat.
“Man, going into it, you knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Bohm said. “He’s got some of the best stuff in the league so there’s not really a plan to go against a guy like that. You just get in the box and join in. I just caught one in front and got it .”
Later, Bohm’s two-run single capped a two-out, small-ball rally by the Phillies, the kind that sets an entire dugout on fire. With two outs and no one on, Whit Merrifield threw out an infield single, which started a rally of five consecutive batters. Merrifield also had to rush to beat a force out at third on an infield single by Trea Turner. Bryce Harper followed with a basesloaded walk and Bohm again did his thing with runners in scoring position.
“On the bases, on defense, that’s huge for him,” Thomson said of Merrifield. “That’s who he is, he’s a baseball player. When I call someone a baseball player, it’s a real compliment. He’s solid, he’s great in the clubhouse, he fits right in. You trust a guy like that.”
“We’re the kind of offense where no matter where we are in the lineup — two outs, one out, nobody out — we can get something going,” Bohm added. “We can make runs in different ways in the lineup.”
The inning was an example of the many different ways to win the Phillies have found this month. Most nights it was the rotation, which had a ridiculous 1.21 ERA and 0.77 WHIP over the past 12 games. Over the past two weeks, the offense has come alive.
“Hats off to the starters,” Bohm said. “They really set the tone for us, whether we score two points or seven points. They gave us a chance every night and without them a streak like this isn’t really possible.”
The Phillies defense also had a big impact almost every night. It helped Aaron Nola in four different innings on Friday, and on Saturday Merrifield made a sliding catch in left field to rob Ha-Seong Kim, while Nick Castellanos hit the wall in right, costing Jose Azocar extra bases. Castellanos struckout in his first three at bats, but didn’t take the frustration into the field. Any hesitation or lack of concentration on the play and it would have been a double at the very least.
The Phils are 18-10 and look like one of the best teams in baseball. They lost their first two series of the season but haven’t lost one since.
They have already defeated the Rockies and White Sox and look to get their third of the month in Taijuan Walker’s season debut on Sunday afternoon.
