Phils top Dodgers, stay atop NL East
PHILADELPHIA >> Just one look was all it took for Joe Girardi to get his competitive juices boiling. That look was at a pitch by Phillies closer Ian Kennedy to Corey Seager Thursday that looked like a strike three for a second out in the ninth inning.
Instead, it went as a ball four to Seager.
Then Girardi was treated to a second look, again a Kennedy pitch that looked like it caught plenty of plate, this one to Cody Bellinger on a full count with two outs. Again it was called a ball four by plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.
That was enough for Girardi, who yelled “That’s two!” to Marquez, then came out onto the field to, um, further explain. It would take a little longer than usual for Girardi to earn his ejection. So he wasn’t on the top step to see Kennedy load the bases by hitting Will Smith with a pitch.
Nor was Girardi around to even consider pulling his pitcher. Not that he’d want to...
“I did learn one thing: Ian Kennedy can get a five-out save,” Girardi said with a smirk after Kennedy retired Billy McKinney on a fly to left, finally wrapping up a 2-1 Phillies victory at Citizens Bank Park.
“They don’t have to swing for it to be a strike,” Girardi added. “The one to Seager is a great pitch, the
“I did learn one thing: Ian Kennedy can get a five-out save . ... They don’t have to swing for it to be a strike. The one to Seager is a great pitch, the one to Bellinger was a great pitch.”
– Phillies manager Joe Girardi after being ejected in the ninth of his team’s win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.
one to Bellinger was a great pitch. And what I don’t understand is, I was walking down the stairs and that’s when (Marquez) threw me out. I mean, come on. Either throw me out when I’m yelling at you, but not walking down the stairs, I was done yelling! But he doesn’t respond. He doesn’t say anything, whether they’re a strike or not ... he didn’t say one word. I don’t get it. I mean, that’s a five-out save, so good job, Ian.”
It certainly was appreciated by the Phillies, who had dropped the first two games of this series against the defending (and again favored) World Champions while getting outscored 132.
Again the Phillies were going to be offensively challenged but they did get another sterling performance by converted reliever Ranger Suarez in what may or may not be his last starting assignment with a pitch count.
Suarez allowed just one run and three hits - two of them not leaving the infield - in 4 2/3 innings in which he passed the originally prescribed pitch count of 75.
“We might stop him at 90 (pitches) next time,” Girardi said of Suarez, now a regular member of the rotation even though fellow lefty Jose Alvarado went on the injured list the other day, leaving the Phillies short on lefties in the bullpen. “It was really hot but his innings weren’t really stressful today and that’s why we pushed him pretty good.”
Suarez wound up throwing 82 pitches, saw the Dodgers score their only run on a grounder after reliever Enyel De Los Santos had thrown a wild pitch to move runners into scoring positions in the fifth.
But overall, Suarez was strongly supported by the bullpen. Hector Neris and Archie Bradley combined for three clean innings before Kennedy rode the blue wave in the ninth inning.
“You learn in these lateinning roles that you kind of live and die by those outcomes and by those calls,”
Bradley said of Kennedy’s pinched stint in the ninth. “Ian is a true professional, and he knows when you don’t get that strike three call all you can do is forget about it immediately. ... If you spend too much time (mulling) about the call you didn’t get, you’re going to get rocked by the next guy and you’re going to lose the ball game. You have to be able to forget it, figure out who’s coming up next and how you’re going to get them out.”
That’s what Kennedy did despite two umpire looks that were two too many for Girardi.
*** Suarez is winning raves from his manager and teammates in a season in which he didn’t come north with the club initially out of spring training, and now has impressed in a few different pitching roles.
“I’ve been super impressed,” Bradley said of Suarez. “Going from not making the team to then being a long guy, to being the late-inning guy to then being our closer, to now being one of the best starters in the National League ... and I’m not afraid to say that right now. I know he hasn’t gone deep in games but look at the stuff and how easy it looks.”
Suarez (5-3) has pitched to a 1.07 ERA in 50.1 innings.
“Ranger just kind of rolls with the punches,” Girardi said. “Nothing seems to bother him. It’s just who he is. It’s his personality and it’s a great personality to have because it allows us to use him so many different ways.”
What would be more fun for Suarez is to have no pitch limits on his next start, which would be his fourth.
“You just want to go out there and not have to worry about a pitch limit,” Suarez said. “You just want to go out there and let it loose, see what happens.”
***
NOTES >> Bradley got the win, going to 7-1 on the season . ... J.T. Realmuto, who twice was knocked in the mask with pitches Wednesday, passed concussion tests and could have pinch-hit Thursday but Girardi chose to keep him on the bench.