Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

Phillies drop series finale to Rockies, lose first series since early April

Ranger Suárez suffered his first loss of the season on Sunday. (Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Rockies 5, Phillies 2

Entering this weekend, the Phillies had split or won 15 straight series. Their last series loss came during the first week of April against the Reds at Citizens Bank Park.

After splitting the first two games at Coors Field with the Rockies to start the weekend, the odds seemed to be in the Phillies’ favor to bump that number of consecutive series without a loss to 16 with Ranger Suárez on the mound. After all, Rob Thomson’s club was 10-0 in Suárez’s starts this year.

But Suárez, who brought a 9-0 record and 1.36 ERA into Sunday’s game, didn’t get off to the best start. During the first two innings, he allowed four earned runs (five total). The lefty issued four walks in the second inning alone. 19 of his 35 second-inning pitches were called balls. It was clear he couldn’t find the type of command he had possessed all season long.

The biggest blow in the second came on what could’ve been an inning-ending double play ball. The Rockies had already scored in the frame — on a Sean Goodman double — and had the bases loaded with one out and Brendan Rodgers at the dish. Rodgers proceeded to ground a ball to Alec Bohm, who couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Bohm quickly gathered the ball, stepped on third base for the second out of the inning and then attempted to finish off what would’ve been a rather quirky double play with a throw to first base. But the throw was less than crisp, and got by Bryce Harper, allowing Ezequiel Tovar to score all the way from first on the play — Colorado’s third run of the inning and second on the play.

After the second inning, Suárez found his command. He fired four straight 1-2-3 innings and collected seven strikeouts along the way. Suárez didn’t walk a single batter over his final four innings of work. None of the final 13 batters the left-hander faced reached base safely.

But unfortunately for the Phillies, the damage was already done. And now, so is their impressive series-without-a-loss streak. After mustering just two runs on three hits against Rockies’ starter Cal Quantrill across the game’s first six innings, their lineup didn’t score against Colorado’s bullpen, recording just two hits over the game’s final three innings.

Highlights

After a Brendan Rodgers one-out single in the bottom of the first, Ryan McMahon gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead on a first-pitch home run in the very next at-bat.
Johan Rojas, who has struggled to finish off plays at certain points this season, made a great diving catch to end the bottom of the first inning.

The Phillies eventually got on the board in the fourth. Kyle Schwarber led the frame off with a walk, Harper reached base via error and Alec Bohm drove Schwarber home with a single to right field.

Bryson Stott then grounded into an inning-ending double play, quickly squashing the Phillies’ two-on-with-one-out threat.
A half inning later, on a ball that just missed hitting Suárez, Stott made an impressive diving catch for the first out of the bottom of the fourth.

The Phillies made it a three-run game in the fifth as Rojas punched a two-out single to right field, driving Brandon Marsh in from second base — their final run of the game.

Notes

Prior to Sunday’s game, Rob Thomson provided an update on Trea Turner, who was a little sore after a heavy rehab day on Saturday. The Phillies will “pull it back a little bit” when it comes to Turner’s rehab, per Thomson.
Ranger Suárez’s final line consisted of six innings, three hits, five runs (four earned), four walks and nine strikeouts. Sunday marked his first start this season where he allowed more than three runs and his first loss. Suárez’s ERA is now 1.75.
J.T. Realmuto’s eighth-inning single extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games.

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