Phillies can’t match fireworks at the plate from Orlando Arcia and the Braves in loss
Ranger Suárez cruised through his first two innings but ran into trouble in the third, when Arcia and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back shots to left to put their team on the board.
Entering Friday, the Braves’ Orlando Arcia was a career .243 hitter.
But based on his splits, he’s a different player when he visits Citizens Bank Park. In 15 at-bats in Philadelphia this season, Arcia entered Friday with a .467 average and a 1.263 OPS. And he padded those numbers with two home runs in a 7-2 Phillies loss to Atlanta.
Each time Arcia stepped up to the plate — or did anything at all, really — he was met with a chorus of boos. Arcia had reignited the ire of the Phillies fan base last week after staring down Bryce Harper during a home run trot in Atlanta. Both times as he rounded first base on Friday, Arcia kept his gaze on the Braves’ bullpen out in center field.
The Phillies couldn’t get much going to combat it, outside of solo home runs from Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto.
In his first home start since July 12, Ranger Suárez allowed four runs on five hits. He was lifted after the fourth inning with his pitch count at 78. In Suárez’s previous start on Aug. 24 in Kansas City — his first since returning from the injured list — he threw 72 pitches.
Suárez said postgame that he feels fine physically.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said the limited workload was planned, since Suárez did not go on a rehab assignment while recovering from his lower back soreness. In his next start, Suárez will start building up to 90-95 pitches.
Suárez started off strong and retired the first six batters he faced — five via the strikeout. But he started to struggle in the third inning. Atlanta’s first two hits of the game were back-to-back homers from Arcia and Sean Murphy in the third, both smoked to left field.
“In the third inning there, they put 26 pitches on him,” Thomson said. “I think it kind of took its toll on him. The two home runs were just missed locations, just balls that leaked back out over the plate, and they put good swings on them.”
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The Braves added two more runs in the fourth inning on three hits and a walk.
“I think there were a couple pitches left right in the middle of the zone,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “I think I made a couple mistakes, and that changed the whole dynamic of the game.”
Suárez said he thought his curveball and changeup were working well, but he had difficulty locating his cutter. He only induced one swing-and-miss with the pitch.
The Braves have won all three of pitcher Reynaldo López’s starts against the Phillies this season. On Friday, López had six strikeouts and only allowed four hits. But Thomson saw improvements.
“Our at-bats tonight were better than the other two games,” he said. “A lot less chase. I thought we put good at-bats on him, got his pitch count up, and got him out after six [innings].”
Two of those hits were doubles from Harper, who had a solid offensive night overall. Harper used the entire field, pulling the ball down the left field line in the first inning and lining it to right in the third. Both times, however, he was stranded at second.
“I think we punched out a little too much tonight against [López],” Harper said. “When you chase that curveball or that slider out of the zone, it kind of sets up everything else for him. So we’ve got to do a better job of getting him in the zone.”
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Max Lazar pitched the sixth inning. His streak of seven scoreless appearances to start his MLB career come to an end with Arcia’s second homer of the night, a two-out solo shot to center field. Murphy then drew a walk and was driven home by a double from Gio Urshela.
Atlanta tacked on another run off Yunior Marte in the seventh. Matt Olson nearly scored another on a wild pitch, but Realmuto recovered the ball in time and made the out at the plate.
The Phillies showed some signs of life in the eighth inning, with singles from Harper and Stott, but Realmuto grounded out to end the rally. Austin Hays popped out, and Edmundo Sosa and Weston Wilson struck out to end the game.