Should the Phillies be worried about Ranger Suárez?

Know what the Phillies don’t need right now?

One of their hitters getting drilled by a pitcher with a bruised ego.

Because a Band of Brothers vibe formed within the clubhouse here long before Nick Castellanos took a 96-mph fastball off the hip Tuesday night. As amusing as it was, then, that Castellanos likened Rays reliever Edwin Uceta to “my 2-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his dessert before he’s finished,” the line wouldn’t have been as funny if it was delivered from the injured list. Or if enraged Bryce Harper got hurt in the ensuing skirmish.

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“I don’t think we really need [bonding] moments like that because we are that type of team,” Harper said once his head cooled. “If we’re going to dinner, if we’re hanging out, if we’re in here watching football or doing whatever we do, we’re a very close-knit team. When something like that happens, I think all of us just get upset because it’s not right.”

So Harper & Co. defended Castellanos against Uceta in a mini-uprising around the mound, then pocketed their 87th victory of the season.

“Boys will be boys,” manager Rob Thomson said.

By Wednesday night, bygones hopefully will be bygones.

But there is a situation the Phillies must resolve before the playoffs. It was buried Tuesday night beneath the extracurricular drama of the eighth inning, and if not for the Uceta-Castellanos affair, it would have been a more pronounced storyline.

Whither Ranger Suárez?

Oh, Suárez was on the mound for 5⅓ innings against the Rays. But the lefty was a shell of the pitcher who dominated hitters for the season’s first three months. He allowed 12 hits, a career high, and four runs, failing to hold 1-0, 2-1, and 4-2 leads.

After posting a 1.83 ERA through 16 starts, Suárez has a 6.02 mark in only eight starts since June 30. He has never been one to set a radar reading ablaze, but his average fastball velocity is down a tick.

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Some context: It was Suárez’s fourth start since returning from a month on the injured list with a sore back. The Phillies didn’t send him on a minor league assignment. Thomson has theorized that Suárez is still working off the rust. It’s a reasonable theory.

But the regular season will be over in less than three weeks. Suárez is lined up for three more starts, likely Monday in Milwaukee, Sept. 21 in New York, and Sept. 27 in Washington.

Time is running short to rediscover the form that made him an All-Star — and set the Phillies apart from other World Series contenders by giving them a trio of elite-level starters atop their rotation.

“This was probably his third rehab start if he went on a rehab,” Thomson said Tuesday night. “He’s doing his rehab at this level, and that can be difficult at times. But I think he’ll be fine.”

Suárez projects a similar Alfred E. Neuman-style — “What, me worry?” — attitude. He chalked up his start against the Rays to “one of those days where you feel like every pitch that you throw gets hit.” He cited a slight uptick in his velocity, which was down by about 2 mph on average last week in Miami. But it wasn’t all the way back yet, either.

And he rejected the notion that he might’ve benefited from a few starts in triple A before rejoining the Phillies’ rotation.

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“I don’t think that at all,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “If I didn’t go to a rehab assignment, it’s because I didn’t need it. If I go out and do this every fifth day [in the majors], it’s because I didn’t need a rehab assignment at all.”

Thomson pointed to spotty command and an ineffective changeup, which renders Suárez’s sinker-curveball pattern more predictable. He threw only nine changeups against the Rays and gave up three hits, including leadoff doubles by Christopher Morel and Jonathan Aranda.

“He sort of became one-dimensional,” Thomson said.

Not the best description of a Game 3 playoff starter, especially in the middle of September.

To be fair, the Phillies probably don’t have to see the April/May version of Suárez to make another long October run. Like most managers, Thomson leans less on the starters and more on the bullpen in the postseason. A full rebound from Suárez might be less essential than, say, from hard-throwing lefty José Alvarado, who had his best outing in weeks Tuesday night against the Rays.

But Suárez does have a 1.62 ERA in nine postseason appearances (seven starts) in the last two years. He even closed out pennant-clinching Game 5 of the NL Championship Series in 2022.

“He’s one of our horses,” second baseman Bryson Stott said. “He takes us a long way through the game, through the season. It’s good to have him back, for sure.”

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But is he really back? Asked if Suárez is healthy, Thomson said: “Yes. Oh, yeah.”

“I feel like I’m in a good place right now,” Suárez said. “I just go out and compete with 100% of myself each day.”

More than anything, a fully effective Suárez is what the Phillies need now.