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Phillies’ Ranger Suárez ‘in play’ to return from IL, start Sunday vs. Brewers

The lefty hasn’t pitched since Aug. 13 and has been sidelined since Aug. 19 with a strained right hamstring.

Ranger Suárez will throw a brief bullpen session Friday, but he's expected to come off the injured list to start Sunday in Milwaukee.
Ranger Suárez will throw a brief bullpen session Friday, but he's expected to come off the injured list to start Sunday in Milwaukee.Read moreHeather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

It’s still written in pencil, but Ranger Suárez’s return to the Phillies’ starting rotation could come this weekend.

Suárez is “in play” to be reinstated from the injured list and start Sunday in Milwaukee, manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday. The lefty hasn’t pitched since Aug. 13 and has been sidelined since Aug. 19 with a strained right hamstring.

A final decision won’t come until Friday, when Suárez is slated to throw a brief bullpen session. He threw roughly 30 pitches to hitters in a live batting practice session Monday and emerged “great,” according to Thomson.

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Once Suárez comes back, the Phillies intend to deploy a six-man rotation, at least through a Sept. 11 doubleheader at home against the Braves. After that, they could scale back to five starters, likely with Michael Lorenzen and Cristopher Sánchez aligned to pitch on the same day to manage their career-high workloads.

Suárez had been pitching well, with a 2.45 ERA in 18⅓ innings his last three starts, when he tweaked his hamstring in a between-starts workout Aug. 16 in Toronto. He has a 3.88 ERA in 97⅓ innings in 17 starts overall.