Phillies’ Ranger Suárez still trying to regain his All-Star form with time running short before playoffs

MILWAUKEE — For a moment, it seemed like disaster had struck.

Phillies starter Ranger Suárez slipped coming off the mound trying to field a ball in the series opener against the Brewers on Monday night and stayed down after Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott combined for the out to retire Brice Turang.

Suárez took a tumble on the short infield grass and jammed his right wrist. He was inspected by the Phillies training staff and stood up to throw a few times off the mound. Suárez resumed the game shortly afterward — disaster avoided. The next pitches were some of the best he threw all night, and he retired the next four batters he faced.

» READ MORE: Stock check of the Phillies’ top five relievers: How each is shaping up for a World Series run

Suárez said he was fine afterward. But that didn’t mean that concerns about him are over.

“Actually, after he tumbled on the mound, looked like stuff was better,” manager Rob Thomson said. “But, yeah, he had trouble finishing hitters off.”

When Suárez fell off the mound in the fourth, his pitch count had already hit 81. He was removed following the fifth inning, having allowed three runs and four hits on 104 pitches. It was just the fourth time this season he’s eclipsed 100 pitches. Suárez needed 112 pitches for his complete-game shutout of the Rockies in April.

Suárez hasn’t completed six innings since July 12. During two of those six starts, he was on a pitch limit after returning from the injured list. But the overarching trend predates the injury.

Thomson gave the refrain that he considered the outing Suárez’s “third rehab start,” which also is how he described Suárez’s previous outing against Tampa Bay. The problem is, Suárez has now completed his fifth start since returning from the injured list.

“I think the stuff is a little bit down. I do. That doesn’t mean it’s not going to come back, and I think it will,” Thomson said. “... I think he’s going to get better, and I trust him.”

There were some positives in Suárez’s performance that warranted that trust. His fastball velocity hovered around 91 mph, similar to where it had been in his previous start. That was something Thomson had said pregame he hoped to see.

“He’s probably not going to get much more than that,” Thomson said. “He might reach 94-95 [mph] in leverage situations, playoff-mode-type games, but as long as he’s commanding the baseball at that velocity, that’s good. He’s gonna win a lot of games.”

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Taijuan Walker is moving out of the bullpen to start Thursday vs. the Mets

Suárez’s changeup and cutter also were more effective than last time, giving him weapons to play off his trademark sinker-curveball combo.

The inefficiency really came down to being unable to put away hitters — Suárez only struck out five out of the 16 hitters he brought to a two-strike count. He said he felt like he was mostly “battling [himself].”

Suárez is running out of time before the postseason to win that battle and recapture his early-season form. His 143⅔ innings have already surpassed the 125 he pitched last season, but he said he feels like he is in good physical shape.

“I think that possibly executing a little better those 0-2, 1-2 pitches and finishing off those counts, I think that is one of the goals that I’m going to set for myself,” Suárez said through a team interpreter.

» READ MORE: Cal Stevenson almost quit baseball last season. Here’s how he learned to hang in and trust himself.

While Thomson historically is aggressive with how he deploys his bullpen in the playoffs, Suárez wants to prove he can be trusted to pitch deep into games this postseason. He likely has two starts remaining to do that.

“As a pitcher, what you want is to go out and go as long as you can, throw as many innings as you can for the team,” Suárez said. “And even in the playoffs, it would be a pleasure as a pitcher to go as long as I could and to throw as many innings as I could for the team.”