Final Score: Nationals 9, Phillies 1
In his final start of the regular season, Ranger Suárez left a lot to be desired. The left-hander seemingly didn’t have a good feel for the baseball on Friday night. He only lasted two innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Altogether, Suárez fired 59 pitches, 42 of which came in the first inning when he faced nine batters. 35 of Suárez’s pitches were strikes. The average velocity on all his pitches was down, but his sinker did reach 91.7 mph and his four-seamer maxed out at 92.6 mph. Both of those marks are higher than his season averages for each respective pitch.
It was a less-than-ideal end to what started out as a great year for the 29-year-old. In his first 16 starts, Suárez had a 10-2 record with a 1.83 ERA in 98 1/3 innings. He earned the first All-Star nod of his career. But, over his next 11 starts, including Friday, Suárez posted a 6.54 ERA. He allowed four or more runs six times in those 11 outings. He did that once in his first 16 starts. Suárez will finish the 2024 regular season with a 12-7 record and 3.46 ERA across 150 2/3 innings.
The Phillies will need Suárez in the postseason. With the way the NLDS schedule is this year, they’ll likely need a fourth starter in that series. How long they’ll let Suárez go in his postseason starts will be a topic of conversation over the next week. The southpaw has looked really good in the playoffs over the last two years. His club may not need that version of him, but they’ll certainly hope for a better version of Suárez than they’ve seen over the last three months.
Highlights
- Juan Yepez knocked in the first run of the night for the Nationals with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.
- Stone Garrett added to Washington’s lead in the first, taking Suárez deep on a 3-2 curveball.
- The Nats took a 4-0 lead on an infield single by Jacob Young.
- Washington took a 6-0 lead in the second on a two-run single by Keibert Ruiz.
- Garrett added a run to the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single.
- The Nationals extended their lead to 8-0 in the seventh as Garrett scored from third on a 6-4-3 double play.
- Austin Hays put the Phillies on the board in the eighth with a solo home run.
- Ruiz drove in another run for the Nationals on an RBI single in the eighth.
Notes
- Spencer Turnbull is continuing to work his way back from injury, and he’s likely going to pitch at Citizens Bank Park during the Phillies’ first-round bye next week.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Saturday, September 28 vs. Washington Nationals at Nationals Park
- 4:05 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia and MLB Network (out-of-market only)
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
- Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680
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