SUAREZ IN GAME 3, PHILS NOT CERTAIN ABOUT 4

Much has changed since lefthander Ranger Suarez shut down the Padres in San Diego June 23, holding them to seven hits and two runs over 71⁄3 innings in a 6-2 Phillies victory.

Mainly Bob Melvin’s lineup, which featured five players who won’t be in there tonight when the National League Championship Series — tied at a game apiece — resumes here at the raucous Citizens’ Bank Park.

So, Suarez, the 27-yearold Venezuela native who went 10-7 with a 3.65 ERA this season for the Phils, won’t put much stock in a game where he didn’t have to face Juan Soto, Josh Bell, even Manny Machado. Nor does he intend to dwell on his last start Oct. 11 in Atlanta, where he was lifted after just 31⁄3 innings after allowing three hits and a run while walking five in what turned out to be a 7-6 Phillies win in the NLDS opener.

“I feel good,” said Suarez through his interpreter during Thursday’s media session while most of his teammates took the day off. “All I want to do (today) is be better than my last time out and really help this team win.

“I really want to attack hitters early in the count. I don’t want to go deep in counts. I think that’s really going to help my game.

“Pitch location has been a problem for me, especially that last start. Lack of control of the strike zone. But I think the rest that I’ve had these last few days is going to help me.”

His manager is confident, too, conceding at this point in the Series you can never look too far ahead. “I thought he was really good coming down the stretch,” said Rob Thomson, eager to see if the expected 46,000 crowd will give his team the kind of boost it did last weekend while eliminating the defending champion Braves. “The start against Atlanta was not ‘Rangeresque.’

“But I think he was a little bit amped up because of the playoff game. I think he’ll be better (today), especially in front of our own fans. I think the crowd and just the adrenaline of the situation will get him through right now.”

As for Game 4 Saturday, in the words of “Gone With the Wind’s” Scarlett O’Hara, that’s another day. “You can figure it out,” said Thomson, refusing to tip his hand. “It’s either going to be (Noah) Syndergaard, (Kyle) Gibson, or (Bailey) Falter, I would think.

“They can give us all multiple innings.”

So possibly could Padres 2012 first round pick Zach

Eflin, normally a starter, who’s been coming out of the bullpen since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him 2½ months. The 28year-old Eflin hasn’t gone more than 12⁄3 innings since coming back.

But Thomson didn’t rule it out. “I’m not sure if I would do Eflin the third inning, but possibly,” hedged Thomson, no stranger to the vagaries of postseason play from his many years as Yankees bench coach, before coming here in 2018. “He would be maybe a one or two inning guy.

“I think we’ll figure it out at the time.”