Another strong start for rookie
Jose Suarez pitches a solid 52⁄3 innings to beat AL East contender.
ANGELS 5 TAMPA BAY 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Angels had not planned for lefthander Jose Suarez to become part of their rotation so quickly. They figured at most they’d used him for spot starts during the first half.
Suarez is now three starts in. Veterans Trevor Cahill (sore elbow) and Matt Harvey (upper back strain) remain on the injured list, and only Cahill is on this threecity trip. After Saturday’s 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, there seems to be no end in sight for Suarez’s major league apprenticeship.
One pitch — a changeup on the outer edge of the plate spoiled by the Rays’ Yandy Diaz, who drove it the other way for a three-run home run — changed the complexion of Suarez’s line.
Still, the 21-year-old, who gave up five hits and three runs and a walk in 52⁄3 innings, proved again that major league assignments aren’t too much to ask of him.
“I thought this was his best [outing] by far,” said manager Brad Ausmus, whose team handed Rays starter Charlie Morton his first loss in 22 starts. “I thought he gave us a chance to win in the first couple. Obviously his very first start in Seattle, we did win. But I thought in terms of pitch usage and efficiency and stuff, I thought this was his best.”
Suarez, the team’s second-best pitching prospect behind Griffin Canning, has allowed a home run in each start and given up eight earned runs in 16 innings. He has a 4.50 ERA. But the numbers don’t paint an accurate picture of Suarez’s brief time with the Angels.
“I’m impressed with his confidence,” catcher Kevan Smith said. “I’m impressed with all the young guys, [infielder Luis] Rengifo, Canning, Suarez. They act like they’ve been up here for a few years. It’s awesome. It’s comforting. … They go out and trust their stuff and compete. That’s all you can ask.”
The Rays entered Saturday’s game in sole possession of first place in the American League East, baseball’s toughest division. They trotted out a lineup that featured five batters with on-base-plus-slugging percentages better than .850.
Like fellow rookie Canning did when he faced the Dodgers in an eventual win earlier in the week, Suarez did not cower when tasked with his toughest challenge. He held the Rays to two hits through five innings.
“I heard a lot about that team and that it was really good,” Suarez said in Spanish. “But this game is about staying focused and doing my job.”
He executed that plan almost to perfection. On his way to his second career victory, Suarez made it through five innings on 64 pitches and didn’t allow a runner beyond second base until Avisail Garcia, who singled, took the bag on Tommy Pham’s bloop hit to right field in the sixth.
Suarez’s success was predicated on his arsenal. He incorporated more breaking balls, throwing nearly twice as many in this start than he did in the Angels’ loss to the Mariners last week.
It allowed Suarez to keep hitters off the scent of his changeup, a pitch that generated weak contact outside of Diaz’s home run.
“He did everything we needed him to do today,” said Smith, who scored on David Fletcher’s tworun, fence-scraping homer in the second and added insurance with his home run in the eighth. “We needed him to go deep in the game, attack those hitters in the zone. He did it with all his pitches, kept them off balance, and we were able to get to our horses in the bullpen and close the game out.”
The Rays’ three-hit rally was a blip on the radar. Angels relievers faced one batter above the minimum hours. Cam Bedrosian allowed a hit in 11⁄3 innings of pristine work before Ausmus called on Ty Buttrey to pitch a quick eighth inning and Hansel Robles to collect his 10th save of the season in an uneventful ninth inning.
“It’s good to get that back,” Ausmus said. “We had a rough one yesterday out of the ’pen, but to come back less than 24 hours later and get the job done, it certainly makes it a lot easier to enjoy dinner.”