It was a cloudy, rainy afternoon in Philadelphia on Sunday. While runners packed the streets of Philadelphia for the annual Broad Street Run, both teams had plenty of runners on the base paths inside Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies’ series finale against the Diamondbacks seemed like it was destined to be delayed, but the rain held off long enough for the game to start on time. The clouds lingered, and some rain returned, but there seemed to be a cloudy feeling that stayed in the stadium for the first few innings.
Philadelphia fought, but ultimately could not complete the sweep as they fell to the Diamondbacks 11-9 after 10 innings in Ranger Suárez‘s season debut. There were some bright spots offensively and defensively, a costly error (later changed to a base hit), and an exciting finish to regulation to force some free baseball for those in attendance. Even that extra frame had some action and had fans on their feet. Let’s break down the highs and lows of Sunday’s loss to Arizona.
Mr. Rager’s Return
Suárez was activated from the injured list yesterday after starting the season on the injured list with lower back spasms. This is not the first time he has dealt with that issue, but he was finally ready to go after some rehab appearances. The left-hander’s day started as well as you could imagine. He retired the first seven batters he faced in order, logging four strikeouts along the way. In the third, four straight Diamondback hitters reached base, resulting in three runs. Ranger would settle in with another strikeout to close the frame.
The fourth started well, but Ranger seemingly ran out of gas. Things fell apart after retiring the first two hitters and tallying his sixth and final strikeout. The next five batters went Single-Walk-Double-Single-Single, resulting in four more runs and ending the left-hander’s day.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson talked about his starter’s outing after the game:
“It just looked like (Ranger) lost his command getting out of the stretch.” Thomson explained. “Leaving his breaking ball up a little bit, change up (was) up, I thought the stuff was good and the command was really good in the first two innings with his fastball and throwing the breaking ball down in the zone. They put some swinging misses and foul balls on it, so, you know – first two innings were good.”
- Ranger Suárez’s final line: 3.2 IP | 7 hits | 7 runs | 2 walks | 6 strikeouts | 82 pitches (53 strikes)
An encouraging outing, before the spiraling fourth frame, Ranger threw a first pitch strike to 13 of the 20 hitters he faced. He lines up to pitch next Saturday in Cleveland, although that has not been made official as of yet.
Phillies Claw Their Way Back
When the score was 7-1, things seemed hopeless among the 44,010 faithful fans in attendance. Despite the score, the Phillies made some solid plays in the field. Whether it was a great across the body throw from Turner to get Tawa in the top of the third, or Schwarber’s great read on a call off the left field wall that he got in quickly to hold runners at first-and-third – the team did what it could to stay in the game despite what the scoreboard said.
Their run in the first was on an opposite-field home run from Bryce Harper – an at-bat that raised his slugging percentage over Johan Rojas‘ on the season. They would add another on a single from Rojas, scoring Edmundo Sosa. The sixth inning is where things really changed. After Diamondbacks starter struck out the side in the fifth, Phillies hitters responded, jumping all over the veteran left-hander.
With one out, Alec Bohm looked like his old self, doubling down the right field line. Sosa battled through a nine-pitch at-bat, drawing a walk to put two runners on. Weston Wilson, who got the start at first base, had a similar battle – fouling off four pitches in a row before demolishing a pitch into the left field stands. A three-run home run brought the score to 7-5, and suddenly we had a ball game again.
The Phillies would add one more in the seventh, and had an opportunity to add more. With two outs and J.T. Realmuto on first, Alec Bohm struck out swinging, but a passed ball on the swing allowed him to earn first base the hard way. Realmuto tried to advance to third on the throw and was initially ruled safe. After an umpire’s review, he was ruled out, despite there being some confusion around whether or not the fielder impeded his path to the bag. Inning over, as the opportunity slipped through their fingers.
Arizona would add one more insurance run in the top of the ninth off José Alvarado that proved extremely important, as Schwarber would crack a no-doubter solo shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. They would add two more base runners, and Alec Bohm would drive pinch-runner Brandon Marsh home to tie things up, scoring both runs needed with two outs.
Alvarado stayed in for the 10th inning and surrendered two. Carlos Hernandez would step in and surrender another, making the score 11-8. Once again, they fought – a single from Wilson and a deep fly-out from Kepler pushed Bryson Stott across. Despite getting another runner on, the score would remain 11-9 as “Final” flashed across the video board.
They scratched, they showed heart, but still fell short in their attempt at a sweep.
Bullpen’s Important Role
Philly’s bullpen allowed four runs (three earned), all attributed to José Alvarado, whose workload has been heavy, as it has grown to a concern for Philadelphia’s manager. “Yeah, (the workload) does (concern me),” Thomson explained. “With all the guys really. If we have to give him a couple of days after that, then we will, that’s what we did the last time we used him (too many days).” Overall, after a rough start, the bullpen has pitched much better as of late, allowing five earned runs in their last 20.1 innings as a unit. He would also discuss how important their role was tonight:
“Bullpen did a great job, really did – everybody. They’re a little bit taxed right now. Thank God we’ve got a day off tomorrow.”
While not the game they had hoped for, the Phillies still won both series on their quick home stand. That makes three consecutive series wins, coming on the heels of winning just one of the five series before their trip to Chicago versus the Cubs. After an off day tomorrow, they’ll head to Tampa for a date with the Rays, who are playing at the Yankees’ Spring Training facility at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Zack Wheeler (2-1, 3.48 ERA) will toes the mound for Philly, opposed by Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 2.64 ERA) for Tampa.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
