NEW YORK — Ranger Suárez has forged his reputation in the postseason over the past few years. Despite not having his best this October, he lived up to it in the Phillies’ Game 4 loss on Wednesday.
The left-hander gave his team a chance with a gutsy scoreless 4 1/3 innings, navigating around baserunners and pitching his way into and out of jams throughout the evening. He exited with a one-run lead in the fifth inning before Francisco Lindor, New York’s superstar shortstop, blasted a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the sixth to defeat Philadelphia in the National League Division Series with a 4-1 win and send the surging Mets to play for the National League pennant.
“I got in trouble in most of the innings, but I never lost my focus,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “I never lost that mindset on competing to go and help the guys and go as deep as I could in the game.”
Suárez, who made the All-Star team in the first half and struggled in the second after coming back from a month-long stint on the injured list in August, was hardly perfect. He allowed nine baserunners on four walks and five hits, loading the bases in each of the first two innings. The lefty, somehow, escaped both times.
“He grinded for us today,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “I think it was pretty clear he didn’t have his best stuff command-wise. He worked behind in the count a lot, had a lot of traffic out there, but I thought he really, really came through clutch when he needed it and got out of some big innings for us.”
Realmuto wasn’t quite sure if Suárez would make it past two or three innings with all the trouble he faced, but the ever-calm pitcher prevailed. His fastball wasn’t quite playing well against the Mets hitters, so Suárez dialed up 30 curveballs out of 97 pitches — a major uptick from his 19% usage rate on the curve in the regular season. He struck out eight batters, a new playoff high.
After Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on dribbler to third by Alec Bohm, Suárez delivered his lone 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half. Phillies manager Rob Thomson sent him back out to face the top of New York’s order for the fifth, pushing his starter to get through left-handed No. 3 batter Brandon Nimmo.
Suárez allowed a double and a walk before striking out Nimmo looking. Reliever Jeff Hoffman entered and stranded the two runners. It wasn’t pretty, but Suárez put the Phillies in position to win yet another postseason game. He lowered his career playoff ERA to 1.43 in 37 2/3 innings.
“That’s just the competitor he is,” Realmuto said. “I think Ranger wants to win and he wants to be on the mound. He’s just one of those guys for us, and he has been for a long time. So I think that when the moment’s the brightest, he shines. He’s come through for us every single time.”
Hoffman went back out for the sixth following a long layoff in the dugout and hit a wall. He was erratic as he loaded the bases and recorded just one out. The Phillies sent Carlos Estévez into the game to face the leadoff hitter Lindor, and the right-hander fired a 2-1 fastball that caught too much of the plate. Lindor turned the game upside down with his second career postseason grand slam. The Mets never looked back.
As was the case for most of the series, the Phillies’ starting pitching was effective enough; the bullpen and offense left much to be desired. Philadelphia’s relievers allowed 17 runs, 16 earned, in 12 2/3 innings in the NLDS. The lineup scored just two runs prior to the sixth inning all series.
“I thought our starters did well, and I was encouraged by Ranger’s stuff today,” Thomson said. “He was flirting with disaster the first two innings, and he just kept fighting and changing speeds and keeping people off balance. That’s who he is. He’s just a poised man and he really knows how to pitch.”
Although Suárez was diminished, Playoff Ranger appeared once again in 2024. Unfortunately for the Phillies, it didn’t lead to some of the success of years past in an early postseason elimination.
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