The Phillies got great news on Ranger Suárez on Saturday.
X-rays on Suárez’s left hand came back negative, Rob Thomson said postgame. There is swelling around his left thumb. The Phillies will wait a couple days to get the swelling down and see if he can grip a baseball. It’s unclear if Suárez will make his next start, which is tentatively scheduled for next Saturday in London against the Mets. The Phillies could shift to using Zack Wheeler on normal rest if Suárez is unable to go.
“We feel pretty lucky right now,” Thomson said.
Suárez was hit in the left thumb with a 106.1 mph line drive off the bat of Alec Burleson. Suárez fielded the ball and fired to first for the final out, but winced in pain as he returned to the dugout. He went straight down the tunnel with assistant athletic trainer Joe Rauch. Reliever José Ruiz quickly got loose in the bullpen and entered the game in the third.
He said after the game that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to go back into the game after the ball hit his thumb, but he was optimistic that he avoided a major injury.
“Why force it? This is just starting, so there was no need to try and play through it,” Suárez said through a team interpreter.
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