Ranger Suárez did not look like himself on Sunday afternoon, and not just because he gave up six earned runs on nine hits. His defense was not as smooth. His pinpoint command wasn’t there, and his velocity was slightly down. But perhaps the strangest of all was that Suárez recorded not one strikeout.
That was a first for him. According to MLB.com, Suárez had recorded at least one strikeout in all 82 of his career starts. But on Sunday, he didn’t have a good feel for his pitches, and struggled to induce whiffs.
Normally, the Phillies lefty induces weak contact, but on Sunday, the Marlins hit him hard. They made contact at 95 mph or harder eight times, according to Baseball Savant. Suárez also walked two batters.
It was a sloppy game all around, but the Phillies managed to grind out a 7-6 win. They committed a season-high five errors. First, Suárez was charged with a fielding error on a ground ball up the first base line in the third inning. Then, Nick Castellanos made a fielding error from right field. A few at-bats later, catcher Rafael Marchán was charged with catchers interference, and in the fifth inning, Alec Bohm made a throwing error from third base.
Trea Turner made a throwing error to Bohm at first base in the ninth.
The Phillies have been abysmal with runners in scoring position of late, and for the first half of Sunday’s game, that trend continued. In the bottom of the first, Castellanos and Kody Clemens singled, and Whit Merrifield was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but David Dahl grounded out.
They got another chance in the bottom of the second. Trea Turner and Bohm singled and Brandon Marsh walked to load the bases, again, with two outs. But Castellanos struck out.
But in the later innings, the Phillies began to chip away at Miami’s lead. Castellanos entered Sunday’s game with a .446 OPS with runners in scoring position over the past two weeks, but he finished his day with three RBI. Castellanos drove in Marsh with a hard-hit double to left field in the fifth, reducing the Phillies’ deficit to 6-3.
With the bases loaded in the sixth, Castellanos hit a two RBI single to left to score Marchán and Bryson Stott. Turner had the go-ahead hit in the seventh. With two outs and runners on second and third, he hit a single to left field that scored Merrifield and Dahl, giving the Phillies a 7-6 lead.
They finished their day going 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position, but did just enough to come out on top.
Gregory Soto — who has not allowed a run since June 9 — retired the Marlins in order in the eighth with two strikeouts. The Phillies put runners on first and third with back-to-back leadoff singles in the eighth, but went down 1-2-3 to end the inning without adding an insurance run.
Jeff Hoffman pitched the ninth. He induced a flyout, and then Jake Burger reached on Turner’s throwing error. Hoffman induced another flyout to Jesús Sánchez and struck out Tim Anderson to win the game.
