Ranger Suárez delivered a strong performance for the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, helping the team secure a 9-3 win over the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. The victory increased Philadelphia’s lead in the National League East to nine games with 17 left in the regular season.
Suárez struck out a career-high 12 batters and allowed only one hit over six scoreless innings. Notably, he struck out Mets’ key hitters Juan Soto and Pete Alonso three times each.
“It feels great,” Suárez said of setting a career high. “I don’t usually strike out a lot of guys, I’m more of a pitch-to-contact guy. But every time we got into two-strike counts, we try to put them away — and we were able to do that today.”
This outing followed another six-inning scoreless start by Suárez last Thursday against Milwaukee. His recent performances have come against teams currently holding postseason positions. In those nine starts this season, Suárez has posted a 1.69 ERA, compared to his 3.52 ERA in other games.
Suárez has also excelled in past playoff appearances, maintaining a 1.43 ERA over nearly 38 career postseason innings. Only Sandy Koufax (0.95), Ian Anderson (1.26), and Wild Bill Hallahan (1.36) have lower ERAs among pitchers with at least five postseason starts.
“Yeah, I think he does,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said when asked if Suárez elevates his game for important matchups. “I don’t know, but yeah, he’s a guy — I’ve said it many times — the heartbeat never changes. When he’s on, he’s really something.”
After struggling from mid-July through mid-August with a 6.59 ERA over five starts, Suárez has rebounded recently with an 0.88 ERA in his last five outings—three of which included double-digit strikeouts.
“Unbelievable,” third baseman Otto Kemp said about Suárez’s performance after hitting one of Philadelphia’s three home runs during the game. “I mean, he makes it easy for us, but it’s special. Just a special pitcher.”
Suárez acknowledged his past difficulties late in previous seasons but expressed determination to finish this year strong: “I just want to finish this season as strong as I can,” he said.“We all know I’ve had issues during the second half for the past couple years, so what’s on my mind is to just finish it off strong and as best as I can this year.”
Looking ahead, Suárez is scheduled to face Los Angeles next Monday—a matchup that could preview another potential playoff opponent.
Thomson praised Suárez’s most recent outing: “Masterful, really,” Thomson said.“He kept everybody off-balance.All his pitches were good.His command was good…. He was just really,really good.”
