For starters, Suarez can have extra value
PHILADELPHIA >> Despite not being roundly welcomed to the mound by 19,370 who would have preferred Aaron Nola to finish a complete game, Ranger Suarez uncorked an impressive one-out save to preserve a 2-1 victory Sunday over the Atlanta Braves.
With that, he continued to leave the Phillies wondering: Is he the closer of the present? Of the future?
Or at all?
Seems the Phillies still maintain loose long-term plans for the 25-year-old as a starter.
“We think he can do either,” president Dave Dombrowski said. “I don’t think we’d move him back and forth, saying, ‘OK, we’ll start you and then move you back to the bullpen.’ Do we think we can start him? Yeah, I think we can start him. But he’s also very valuable to us out there right now.”
For his fourth save in seven opportunities Sunday, Suarez needed four pitches to strike out dangerous Dansby Swanson swinging.
While he has been used almost exclusively as a starter in the minor leagues, Suarez has been a reliever for the Phils since starting three games in 2018.
Entering the game, Suarez’s 1.15 ERA was fourth best among major-league relief pitchers. In the 12 games he has finished this season, he has not allowed an earned run. At home, 22 of his last 24 appearances have been scoreless.
Dombrowski said that the Phillies’ activity at the Friday trade deadline could affect the immediate plan for the left-hander.
“I don’t think we’ve been confronted with it at this point,” he said. “But we do think he could do either. If you were to say to me, ‘Next year, what do you think Ranger’s going to do?’ I wouldn’t rule him out being a starting pitcher.”
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Pitching coach Caleb Cotham had a hunch that Aaron Nola was due for a breakout start.
“The work with him has been really good lately,” Cotham said. “There’s always the mechanical piece. But it always comes down to making pitches. And when he makes pitches, he’s one of the best in the game.”
In a game the Phillies needed to split a series, secure second place in the NL East and perhaps prevent a season from slipping away, Nola struck out nine in 8.2 innings, throwing 78 of his 116 pitches for strikes.
“I felt the best today that I have all year,” Nola said. “I was more in sync with everything. That was a big win. We know what the Braves can do. We go back to them in September. So we try to get as many wins against them as we can.”
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Ronald Torreyes gave the Phillies a necessary added run with his eighth-inning home run, his career-high fourth of the season.
He is hitting .417 with two home runs, eight RBIs, six walks and two homers in his last 12 games, while displaying defensive excellence at third and short.
Torreyes played shortstop in place of Didi Gregorius Sunday, and his versatility likely will cost him an opportunity to win everyday work at any one position.
“Right now I am probably going to play him in a lot of different places,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s probably going to play some third. I know Jean is going to need a day off here somewhere. He’s going to play some short. I’m just going to keep him going because he is playing so well.”
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Chase Anderson, who has not appeared since May 31, was reinstated after a stretch on the Covid-related IL.
On a one-year deal, the veteran right-hander had sputtered to a 7.34 ERA while going 2-4. He was 1-2 with a 5.74 ERA for Lehigh Valley.
Left-hander Cristopher Sanchez was optioned to the IronPigs.
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NOTES >> Travis Jankowski was placed on the Covidrelated IR, and Mickey Moniak was recalled from Lehigh Valley … With no limits on his pitch count, according to Girardi, Spencer Howard (0-2, 5.11 ERA) will oppose Washington right-hander Joe Ross (58, 4.02) Monday night at 7:05. Tuesday night, it will be Matt Moore (0-2, 5.79) and Nats right-hander Erick Fedde (4-7, 4.88). Zack Wheeler (8-5, 2.37) and lefty Patrick Corbin (6-9, 5.71) will pitch Wednesday. The Citizens Bank Park series concludes Thursday, with Vince Velasquez (3-5, 5.54) scheduled to start … Touki Toussaint struck out a career-high nine for the Braves Sunday … In six of the seven games of his current hitting streak, including Sunday when he hit a fourth-inning home run, Jean Segura has driven in a run.