It is not supposed to be this easy, but Ranger Suárez has been making pitching look like a piece of cake. The easygoing southpaw dominated once again on Monday, firing seven shutout innings without breaking a sweat to lead the Phillies to their seventh straight victory, 7-0 over the Reds in Cincinnati.
The Reds put a runner in scoring position once against Suárez, when Elly De La Cruz was bunted over to second before stealing third with two outs in the fifth. And Suárez probably could’ve gone even deeper in the game, had he not thrown 112 pitches in a shutout his last start, it wasn’t April or the Phillies didn’t already lead by four.
Instead, Rob Thomson — much like he wanted to pace Spencer Turnbull and Zack Wheeler over the weekend, before no-hit bids got in his way, which is a good problem to have — pulled Suárez after he ended the seventh by retiring his ninth consecutive hitter.
Kody Clemens, called up on Monday, punctuated the victory with a three-run no-doubter in the ninth. Gregory Soto and Jeff Hoffman put the bow on a ho-hum series opener, moving the Phillies to 15-8 — their best start through 23 games in six years.
Highlights
- In case the outing wasn’t Suárez-esque enough, he also made this play to end the fourth inning.
- The Phillies took a lead in the second inning when Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos singled, then Bryson Stott scored the former on a sacrifice fly.
- In the third, Johan Rojas tripled, continuing the 180-degree turn his season has taken in the past couple weeks, then scored on a Kyle Schwarber sacrifice fly.
- Stott drove in Bohm again in the fourth. Bohm doubled, Castellanos singled and Stott beat out a double-play ball to take a 3-0 lead.
- Realmuto scored Schwarber on a double of his own in the fifth.
- Clemens was called up earlier in the day when Bryce Harper went on the paternity list. He went 2-for-4 in his MLB season debut, with a double and a 105.8-mph homer. It won’t get as much press, but he also contributed in the second, when he positioned himself in the right spot to tell Bohm exactly where to slide on Stott’s sacrifice fly. It’s the kind of baseball the Phillies have been playing pretty consistently for the past week, plus change.
Notes
- Suárez’s scoreless innings streak is now at 25. He has allowed a total of 11 hits in that span. He’s done it on an average of 13.12 pitches per inning. It’s a remarkable run.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Tuesday, April 23 vs. Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark
- 6:40 p.m. EST
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
- 94 WIP, WTTM 1680
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