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Ranger Suárez emerging as potential Game 3 starter in playoffs

Ranger Suarez has been excellent of late. (Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire)

In the days leading up to the Aug. 2 trade deadline, Jayson Stark of The Athletic reported that the Philadelphia Phillies were “shopping for a starter who can start a playoff game.”

While the Phillies would acquire Noah Syndergaard from the Los Angeles Angels, he’s been more of an upgrade over Bailey Falter than a replacement for the injured Zach Eflin to this point. The Phillies didn’t want to part with any of their top three pitching prospects; Andrew Painter, Mick Abel or Griff McGarry. Ultimately, the price to acquire some of the top potential arms — Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas, Carlos Rodón — proved to be too steep.

However, Ranger Suárez has seemingly emerged as the likely Game 3 starter for the Phillies if Eflin doesn’t return from a right knee injury, and perhaps even if he does.

The Phillies lost 1-0 to the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday, but Suárez was excellent once again, allowing just three hits and striking out eight batters over seven shutout innings.

It was never realistic to think that Suárez would be able to match the 1.36 ERA that he posted across 106 innings in a jack-of-all-trades role a season ago. But it’s fair to say that when the 26-year-old went on the injured list with back spasms in early July, he had been relatively disappointing. Over the first 15 starts of his 2022 season, Suárez had a 4.33 ERA.

But since returning on July 16 in Miami, Suárez has a 1.02 ERA over his last seven starts, which have spanned 35 1/3 innings. Only five pitchers in baseball — Justin Verlander, Julio Urías, Max Scherzer, Blake Snell and Merrill Kelly — have been worth more than the 1.2 fWAR that Suárez has posted over that period.

On the season, Suárez is now 8-5 with a 3.31 ERA, 3.68 FIP and 2.0 fWAR across 114 1/3 innings. Considering that he was never seen as a can’t-miss prospect, enough attention probably hasn’t been paid to how much of a diamond in the rough Suárez has turned out to be. He’s under team control through 2025, and you do begin to wonder whether Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies might consider trying to buy out his arbitration years and maybe a free agent year or two this offseason.

The Phillies have one of the better one-two punches atop their starting rotation in Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. A few weeks ago, you wondered who Rob Thomson would tab to pitch a potential postseason Game 3. Forget Game 3, Suárez looks like he could pitch Game 1 of a playoff series right now.

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The Nuggets

Gold Glove Award Watch: Suárez currently leads all pitchers with six defensive runs saved. The last Phillies pitcher to win a Gold Glove Award was Steve Carlton in 1981.
It sounds as though Brandon Marsh is probably headed for an injured list stint after landing awkwardly in the outfield Tuesday night, per Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Thomson said after Wednesday’s game that Marsh is dealing with both a bone bruise to his left knee and a sprained left ankle.
Unless there’s a setback, the expectation is that Kyle Schwarber (strained right calf) will return as the DH Friday night against the New York Mets, according to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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