The Philadelphia Phillies tied up their series against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday with a 5-1 victory. Edmundo Sosa, Alec Bohm, and Kyle Schwarber each went yard as the home team combined to record five hits. Ranger Suárez pitched five innings of one-run baseball while Jordan Romano earned the win with one inning of relief work.
Suárez excels through five
Ranger Suárez continued to demonstrate why he deserves a nod for an All-Star Game selection on Saturday. After three hitless innings, Suárez worked his way out a trouble spot in the top of the fourth, where he managed his way out of a bases loaded jam. A part of the inning’s festivities came from a familiar face as Austin Hays slung a double into left field. As Hays approached the plate, he was welcomed by a chorus of boos from Philadelphia’s faithful. Allowing a walk later in the inning, Suárez worked his way out by striking out Spencer Steer and working a groundout to Jose Trevino.
The following inning, center fielder Will Benson took Suárez deep a first-pitch fastball. His home run to right-center field broke the ice and gave the Reds a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the same inning, Santiago Espinal and Elly De La Cruz put the pressure back on Suárez with back-to-back singles. With two runners on, Suárez won his next bout against Hays, striking him out on three off-speed pitches to get out of the inning.
“He went and threw strikes, first-pitch strikes,” said manager Rob Thomson post-game. “Changeup was really good. A lot of soft contact other than, you know, the Benson home run. He just missed location. First pitch. He just was all over. I thought Ranger was really good today.”
Suárez needed 80 pitches to get through five innings of work. Through five innings, he allowed five hits and two walks, striking out six. His only blemish came in the solo home run to Benson.
Thomson clarified after the game that Suárez’s early curtain pull was by design. The left-hander had an 85-pitch limit on the day.
“In June, he had six starts,” Thomson explained. “Five of them seven innings, one of them six innings. All of them 94 pitches or more. So we went in today, just trying to pull back a little bit. So he had an 85 pitch limit today.”
Since his rocky season debut on May 4, Suárez now owns a 1.23 ERA in 73.1 innings across 11 starts. Not reaching six innings today, however, means that Suárez’ 10-game quality start streak has come to a close.
Everybody loves Sosa
Edmundo Sosa tied the game up in the bottom of the fifth, slugging a 2-0 sinker into right field for his third home run on the season. Sosa now owns a .444 lifetime average against Lodolo including four extra-base hits.
His offensive surge pairs nicely with strong defensive plays at second base. In the first inning, Sosa laid out on a bloop pop up into center field from Hays. Despite only getting playing time against left-handed pitching, Sosa has thrived as of late, batting .364 with two home runs over the last seven games.
“He’s been great and Kemp’s been great,” said Thomson. “Those guys that we use against left-handed pitching have given us really good at bat. We’ve got good balance right now.”
Bohm goes Boom
With Kyle Schwarber having walked to lead off the inning, Alec Bohm stepped up to the plate with one out in the bottom of the sixth. After looking at a changeup low in the zone, Bohm drove a fastball into center field to break the stalemate. The home run, Bohm’s eighth of the year, went 400 feet, landing a few rows up on Monty’s Angle.
Bohm now owns a team-leading seven-game hitting streak. On that stretch, he is 8-for-25.
Bullpen on clean-up duty
Jordan Romano and Tanner Banks pitched clean sheets in the sixth and seventh innings to follow-up Suárez’s performance. With the heart of the Reds’ order due up in the eighth, Thomson turned to Orion Kerkering for the top of the eighth.
Kerkering allowed a lead-off single to De La Cruz. Next batter, Hays reached base on a fielding error from Turner, who attempted to barehand the slow-roller. Turner did manage to get Hays out on the next play, however, as he recorded a 6-3 double play on a grounder up the middle from Spencer Steer.
Now with two outs on the inning and a runner on third, Kerkering took care of the last out himself, fielding a grounder from Noelvi Marte to end the inning.
Matt Strahm then pitched a scoreless ninth inning to finish the job for the Phillies.
Two potential Phillies All-Stars get the job done
Turner then forced an error of his own at the plate on a grounder to second baseman Matt McLain to lead off the bottom of the eighth. With Turner on the base path for a third time on the day, Kyle Schwarber stepped to the plate.
Schwarber hit his 27th home run of the season into left field to give the Phillies a 5-1 margin going into the ninth inning. Schwarber scored two runs on the day for the Phillies, going 1-for-3 with a walk and his two-run home run.
Turner, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 with a double in the first inning. He tacked on a stolen base in the third as well, putting him in scoring position twice for the Phillies, the sole baserunner to do so on the day.
With the All-Star Game selections being announced Sunday night on ESPN, Turner and Schwarber are expected to be the Phillies’ two position player representatives on the National League squad.
“I think both those guys have [earned an All-Star selection], to tell you the truth,” said Thomson before the game Saturday. “I’m not sure if there’s anybody else, but I think those guys have.”
No RISP, No Problem
Going 3-for-13 the night before with runners in scoring position, the Phillies continued to show problems in the RISP department on Saturday. Turner was the only runner to reach scoring position, doing so in the first and third innings.
Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Nick Castellanos could not plate Turner on either occasion, combining to go 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on the day.
While the Phillies are above league average with runners in scoring position, batting .261 overall, the recent struggles with runners in scoring position are concerning.
Despite not scoring with runners in scoring position, the Phillies managed to score five runs on the day, an ample supply to earn the victory against the Reds.
Series on the line on Sunday
Zack Wheeler will take the mound with the series against the Reds on the line on Sunday. He will face off against right-hander Chase Burns in the 1:35 p.m. getaway day matchup.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
