Ranger Suárez pitches seven-hit shutout, Phillies’ bats come alive in 5-0 win over Rockies

Ranger Suárez has said after many of his starts that his job is to go nine innings. It is his goal, every time, and in that way, the Phillies starter is a relic of the past. MLB pitchers are now averaging 5⅔ innings an outing. Throwing a complete-game shutout is a rarity.

Nevertheless, Suárez has kept his eye on that goal. He did the math in his head. If he could be more efficient with his pitches — throw 90-something over seven or eight, as opposed to five or six — then why couldn’t he get to nine?

On Tuesday night, in a 5-0 win over the Rockies, Suárez did just that. He needed 25 pitches to get through three innings. He needed 44 to get through four. By the time he reached eight, he was at 89.

Manager Rob Thomson approached him.

“Are you feeling OK?” He asked.

“Yes,” Suárez said.

“Go out there and finish the game,” Thomson said.

“All right,” Suárez said, “that’s what I’m going to do.”

It was a typical response from a pitcher who is known for having “no heartbeat,” in the words of his teammate, Bryce Harper. But Suárez made good on his word. Twenty-three pitches later, he had thrown his second career complete game shutout.

It felt like the culmination of a lot of work. Suárez changed his offseason fitness regimen, had his first full spring training in years, and made some tweaks to his catch-play sessions in Venezuela over the winter, with an added emphasis on throwing more pitches down in the zone. He said it has all a played a role in the 1.73 ERA he’s posted over his 26 innings of work.

For the most part, those have been stress-free innings. Tuesday was no different. Suárez deftly mixed all five of his pitches, switching velocities with ease. He induced soft contact and calmly collected balls hit his way, taking his time while throwing to first base.

In the sixth inning, with one on and no outs, Charlie Blackmon hit a ground ball to the mound, which Suárez bobbled. Even then, he did not panic. He threw it in time to record the first out of the frame.

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“I’m not sure Ranger has ever had any [stress],” Thomson said. “He’s really something.”

When he came out for the ninth, Suárez received a standing ovation. “Mr. Rager” by Kid Cudi started to ring through the stadium. It is his warm-up song, and it hasn’t been played in the ninth since Game 5 of the 2022 NLCS, when he recorded the save to send his team to the World Series.

His body began to shake.

“I hadn’t felt that way in a while,” he said. “I think it helped me finish the ninth inning.”

He finished his night at 112 pitches — 79 strikes — allowing seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. Suárez saw it as a team effort. The Phillies haven’t always capitalized when they get an elite start, but on Tuesday, they did, on both sides of the ball. J.T. Realmuto broke a cold streak with a two-run homer in the first inning.

Harper, who entered the game hitting below the Mendoza line at .197, flashed some power in the bottom of the sixth, driving in Trea Turner with an RBI double to left field that came off his bat at 103.5 mph. He flashed it again in the bottom of the eighth, when he hit a two-run homer 381 feet into the right-field seats.

The Phillies only combined for seven hits, but made the most of them. It was enough. Suárez got some help, defensively, too. In the sixth, with Alan Trejo on second and two outs, Harper made a savvy play at first base. Ryan McMahon hit an infield single to shortstop, as he beat Turner’s throw to first. Harper alertly began sprinting across the diamond with the ball, toward Trejo, who had rounded third and was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

An inning later, Elehuris Montero lined a hit to left field and was gunned down by Brandon Marsh when he tried to stretch the single into a double. Alec Bohm also made a nice diving stop in the eighth to rob Michael Toglia of a hit.

“Bohm makes a great play, Marsh, great throw,” Thomson said. “Really heads up play by Harp at first base. Continuing to play after he was safe at first base. Again, doesn’t add on pitches to Ranger. A lot of good things tonight.”

It was clean pitching and clean defense — which is important at a time when most of the Phillies’ bats remain cold. Harper, in particular, has run into some bad luck offensively. He’s been hitting the ball hard, right at people. He went 2-for-4 on Tuesday but downplayed the result.

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“Yeah, I mean, just get me to the box,” he said. “That’s all, right? Just try to get there and understand that each day is a new slate. We’ve got a long season. Just try to get out there and get to the batter’s box. It might not look pretty sometimes, but I feel good, work looks good, just got to get there. Just got to get there.”

He was much more comfortable talking about his teammate. Harper has been around pitchers of Suárez’s ilk and knows they are the exception, not the norm. He can rattle off a few — Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmerman — but they are a dying breed.

“I just don’t think they kind of make them like that anymore,” he said. “Really getting to the seventh inning and grinding through, or getting through the eighth inning. A lot of these guys in the minor leagues are throwing three-and-a-half innings and getting out of the game. It’s kind of tough for the game.

“So, when you have guys that are valuable like that, you’re going to get paid, you know, [guys] that throw 200 innings, they’re going to get a lot of money. So, I think Ranger is going to be one of those guys. We’re very fortunate to have him on our side.”