Ranger Suárez throws five scoreless innings vs. Marlins as Phillies win fifth straight game

MIAMI — Lop off two more numbers from the countdown to the Phillies’ first division title since 2011. But two digits were even more significant Thursday night:

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Because the Phillies’ best chance to win the World Series — the only goal that really matters after near-misses in back-to-back Octobers — hinges on the starting rotation. And Suárez has the ability to separate them from all other contenders.

It was encouraging, then, that Suárez overcame occasionally spotty command and a dip in velocity by mixing five pitches like a blender to put the last-place Marlins to sleep, 5-2, before only 9,355 paying customers in South Florida.

“He’s one of our horses,” said Bryson Stott, who dunked an RBI single into left field and crushed an upper-deck solo homer to right. “He takes us a long way through the game, through the season. It’s good to have him back, for sure.”

In addition to Suárez, who spent a month on the injured list, the Phillies have their groove back, too. They won their fifth game in a row — and for the 10th time in 12 games — and stretched their NL East lead to eight games, with the Braves’ loss at home to the Rockies. The magic number to clinch the division is 15, as in any combination of Phillies wins or Braves losses totaling 15.

For weeks, the Phillies slow-played Suárez’s return from a stiff back. They are easing him into action now, too. He threw 82 pitches, a modest increase from 72 and 78 in his previous starts against the Royals and Braves. With at least three, maybe four starts remaining, there’s time to get him closer to 100 pitches before the end of the regular season.

But the Phillies don’t need Suárez to dominate in October, as he did in the first half of the season. They’ll take his reliability and coolly making pitches, like the dirt-diving curveball to strike out Jake Burger with two runners on base in the third inning.

Suárez’s sinker clocked in at an average of 88.9 mph, two ticks down from his season average. Manager Rob Thomson conceded that the velocity “wasn’t normal” but claimed to be unconcerned. Thomson suggested it’s part of the process of rounding into form, especially considering Suárez didn’t go to the minors for a tune-up.

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“I think you’re going to see — and I hate the terminology — a little dead arm coming out of this thing,” Thomson said. “He’s kind of building at this level, and sometimes that’s tough. But he knows how to pitch.”

It’s surely worth monitoring. But maybe it really wasn’t a big deal. Suárez doesn’t typically rely on velocity to get hitters out anyway. And without his best fastball, he simply used his curveball and changeup to get the Marlins to swing and miss.

“You’re not always 100% with your velocity,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “That’s what I had today. I worked with it, and it worked well. I tried my breaking balls today, and they were working. We were getting the results that we wanted, so why stop throwing them?”

Suárez used his sinker to get soft contact, mostly on the ground. And he fielded his position, as usual, erasing a leadoff walk in the fourth inning by picking Jonah Bride off first base and bouncing off the mound to glove Cristian Pache’s tapper in the fifth.

The Phillies capped Suárez at 90 pitches, according to Thomson, who didn’t want to send him out for the sixth inning if he wouldn’t be able to finish it. And after a four-run uprising in the top of the sixth pushed the lead to 5-0, it made even less sense to stick with Suárez.

Suárez made his return Aug. 24 in Kansas City and pitched well for five innings. He struck out the first five batters last Friday at home against the Braves before allowing back-to-back homers and getting KO’d after four innings.

Consider this, then, to be a strong response.

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“He used more of his secondary pitches than he normally does just because he didn’t have the velo,” said Thomson, who noted that Suárez could throw 95 pitches in his next start. “He really pitched. I thought he pitched better than he did the last time. So, we’re making progress.”

Stott stirred an offense that was otherwise inefficient (3-for-11 with runners in scoring position). He singled home a run in the first inning, then launched a solo homer to jump-start things in the sixth.

The Marlins got to reliever Max Lazar for one run in the seventh and took advantage of a throwing error by fill-in third baseman Kody Clemens to score again in the eighth.

But it was Suárez, though, who set the tone, even without his best stuff.

And with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola on tap to take the ball in the next two games, it was a helpful reminder of how important Suárez will be as the No. 3 starter in the postseason.

“He’s Ranger,” Stott said. “If he doesn’t have his sinker that day, he’s got seven other pitches, it feels like. He’s very smart up there. He knows what guys might be sitting on, and he just throws what he wants to throw. Just him being able to command every pitch is big.”

Maybe even difference-making.

The magic number to clinch the division is 15, as in any combination of Phillies wins or Braves losses totaling 15.