Suarez shutout, Harper HR, Phils win 5th in row, top Pirates

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ranger Suarez has done a little bit of everything this season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Right now, he’s keeping them in the playoff race.

Suarez pitched a four-hit shutout, Bryce Harper homered and the Phillies kept up their playoff push, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 Saturday for their fifth straight win.

The Phillies began the day 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the NL East. Philadelphia visits the Braves in a three-game series beginning Tuesday.

“We needed that really bad,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We had a number of guys that weren’t available today out of the bullpen, so we would have had to rely on some inexperienced kids if Ranger didn’t do what he did.”

Suarez (7-5) allowed just four singles, walked none and struck out seven in his first major league complete game. He didn’t permit a runner past first base and faced only one batter more than the minimum, keeping the Pirates off-balance and generating a lot of weak contact.

Moved from the bullpen into the rotation in August, the 26-year-old lefty had never thrown more than 6 2/3 innings in a game prior to this outing. But he was efficient with his 97 pitches and seemed to get stronger as the game wore on, striking out four consecutive batters in the seventh and eighth innings.

It’s been an eventful year for Suarez, who was late arriving to spring training because of travel issues related to COVID-19. That delayed the start of his season.

When he first joined the Phillies in May, he was a multiple-inning reliever. He then shifted to more high-leverage roles and was even the team’s closer for a short time before joining the rotation.

“I always try to go out there and do my best to attack hitters,” Suarez said through a team interpreter. “Today I felt I had good command of my...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Suarez-shutout-Harper-HR-Phils-win-5th-in-row-16487759.php