Ranger Suárez says ‘it’s fine’ after leaving his start early with a left-thumb contusion

Only a few hours after Ranger Suárez was hit by a 106.1 mph comebacker on Saturday night, he climbed under a table in the Phillies clubhouse. A group of media members were waiting to talk to him. He popped up in the middle of their scrum, flashed a grin, and began to answer questions.

The left-handed pitcher was remarkably jovial for someone who had just been diagnosed with a left thumb contusion, but neither Suárez nor manager Rob Thomson seemed to be terribly concerned. If anything, they felt like Suárez dodged a bullet.

The liner, which came off the bat of Cardinals’ outfielder Alec Burleson in the second inning, didn’t hit any bone. Suárez’s X-rays came back negative. He may not even have to miss a start.

“We’re pretty lucky right now,” Thomson said after his team’s 6-1 win over St. Louis.

Suárez mentioned that there was a little swelling in his finger. When asked how much swelling, he laughed, and playfully shoved his left hand under his shirt, so reporters couldn’t see.

“It’s fine,” he said with a smile. “There’s a little inflammation. Obviously, the liner was hit hard. But I think it’s fine.”

This is the Suárez experience. Not much rattles him. In the past two weeks, he’s taken a hard-hit comebacker to the thumb, and a hard-hit comebacker that missed his face by about two inches. In both instances, he has been very matter-of-fact.

“I guess I need to throw better pitches,” he said, “So that doesn’t happen again.”

Suárez’s next start is scheduled for June 8 in London. He is going to see how he feels over the next few days. The Phillies would like to get the swelling out of his finger, so he can properly grip the baseball. But even if he doesn’t start, they are in a good spot. Suárez saw it himself.

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He watched from the clubhouse as his teammates in the bullpen picked up where he left off. Jose Ruiz pitched a bridge inning in the third, so Spencer Turnbull — who recently moved to the bullpen — could have some extra time to warm up. It made a difference.

Turnbull pitched three innings of scoreless, hitless baseball, with six strikeouts. He said his outing was as sharp as he has felt since he moved to a relief role in early May. Part of that was due to his warm-up -- throwing 30 pitches, as opposed to 15 -- but another part of it was his mindset.

“I think I’m finally starting to figure out a routine down there, a little bit,” Turnbull said. “Being able to mix all of my pitches. Having enough length to mix them all in, not just getting three quick outs, and then be done. Having more of a starter’s mindset, going in, more of a long relief, type [of mindset]. It definitely feels more of a natural adjustment for me to make.”

Thomson said after the game that if Suárez were to miss his start in London, he would feel comfortable with Turnbull going 80 pitches or so. The Phillies would like to be careful with his workload, but Turnbull said he felt good on Saturday night. He offered to pitch deeper into the game, but his manager erred on the side of caution.

Regardless, it was a gutsy performance from a player who has not been on a regular routine of late.

“We have a guy in our bullpen who could probably be a starter in a lot of rotations right now,” Bryce Harper said of Turnbull. “Bull has done a great job for us. He kind of just got the short end of the stick, right? I mean, he did such a great job for us earlier in the season, and obviously had to go down to the bullpen, and him coming out tonight, and doing his job — I feel like he’s done that all year. No hits, no runs, things like that. So, just a really good three innings by him. Just knowing that we have that next man up mentality, nobody panics, just really good by him.”

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Turnbull has made it clear that he prefers to start, but as of right now, there isn’t room in the five-man rotation. However, Suárez’s injury scare showed how quickly that change. And if it does change, Turnbull will be ready.

“[Tonight] definitely felt more closer to what I’m used to, for sure,” he said. “I’m trying to get used to the shorter stints. It’s been a little bit more difficult to make the adjustment than I thought it would be, but I feel like I’m figuring it out. I’ve found a routine out there that helps me get warm quickly.

“Physically I’ve felt good the last couple times I’ve been out there. The results haven’t been pristine. Also, some of it is bad luck and stuff, too. I feel like I’ve pitched decently the last couple of times, just haven’t been able to get away clean. But that’s just baseball sometimes. I feel like I’ve been able to make good pitches and I feel like tonight I was able to put it all together.”

The bullpen allowed just one run and no walks with 11 strikeouts. Right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering entered in the seventh. He ran into some trouble after allowing a one-out double to Ivan Herrera and a two-out single to Dylan Carlson, but struck out Nolan Gorman to end the inning.

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Gorman worked Kerkering to a seven-pitch at-bat. He hit a towering foul ball on Kerkering’s sweeper, so Kerkering adjusted. The next five pitches he fed Gorman were four-seam fastballs. It’s a pitch that Kerkering has becoming increasingly more comfortable with, thanks to some urging from pitching coach Caleb Cotham.

“To his credit, he’s worked hard on his fastballs,” Cotham said on Friday. “They’re truer than they’ve ever been. He’s got a lot of confidence in them. So, if you see something and the hitter doesn’t like it, consider throwing it again. Sometimes, that’s a fastball. It just creates more indecision.

“The sweeper he can probably throw every pitch and be pretty good. But if he wants to be great, it’s noticing those little things. It’s his version of the art of pitching.”

The Phillies got on the board early, with a two-RBI double from Alec Bohm in the first, and an RBI double from Nick Castellanos’ two at-bats later. Brandon Marsh added on with an RBI single in the third, and Bryce Harper blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh.

With two outs, J.T. Realmuto hit a grounder to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who overthrew the ball to Paul Goldschdmit at first base. Arenado was charged with a throwing error, and Realmuto reached base safely.

That brought Harper up to bat, who quickly made the Cardinals pay for their fielding blunder. In a 1-1 count, he crushed a two-run home run that traveled 415 feet, and landed in the second deck of the right field stands.

It gave the Phillies a 6-1 lead. Seranthony Dominguez — who now has a 1.50 ERA over his last seven outings — pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Gregory Soto pitched the ninth. He allowed a double to Goldschmidt, but recorded his next three outs with a strikeout, a lineout, and a groundout.

“Oh nice, tremendous work by the bullpen,” Suárez said. “Tremendous work by the whole team, but the bullpen specifically. Ruiz, Toro,”— (which translates to “bull” in Spanish, as in, Turnbull) — “Seranthony, Soto. Tremendous work.”

Suárez answered a few more questions, said “Gracias” to the reporters, and walked away, singing “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” by Oliver Heldens as he drifted back to his locker. It’s one thing for an athlete to say he is feeling fine. It’s another for him to exude it.