Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

Phillies slug three home runs, Ranger Suárez deals in series-opening win over Pirates

Brandon Marsh hit his fourth home run of the season on Thursday. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 5, Pirates 1

The Phillies entered Thursday night in a slugging slump as a team. They hadn’t laced an extra-base hit since Monday night in St. Louis — an Alec Bohm RBI double in extra innings. After that double, 16 of their next 16 hits were singles. Their first three hits tonight were also singles. Altogether, the Phillies went 91 plate appearances without an extra-base hit — their longest streak since June of 2022.

Bohm recorded the third of those three early singles tonight in the bottom of the second inning. And two frames later, he finally ended his team’s extra-base hit drought with his first home run of the year.

Pirates starter Jared Jones was able to work his way through the Phillies batting order across six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. The lone damage he allowed came on Bohm’s homer. But in the seventh, with J.T Realmuto on first after yet another single, Brandon Marsh stepped to the dish and delivered what was eventually overturned into a two-run home run after being reviewed.

Jones’ night was done after that, but the Phillies’ bats weren’t. After Marsh, Nick Castellanos would reach base on an error by Michael A. Taylor. One batter later, Bryson Stott, who entered play tonight in a major slump, launched a ball deep into the right field seats for another two-run homer, extending the Phillies’ lead to 5-0.

When asked throughout this week, manager Rob Thomson said the Phillies slugging would eventually show up. They entered tonight in the bottom-third of the majors in home runs, slugging percentage, average exit velocity and barrel percentage. It was clear they weren’t hitting for power or even squaring up baseballs when making contact. They hit the ball hard tonight, though, as nine of the 21 balls they put in play were with exit velocities of at least 95 mph, also known as “hard hits”.

While it is just one night of work, Thomson surely liked what he saw from his offense tonight.

While the Phillies’ offense was kept quiet until the seventh inning, Ranger Suárez was dealing on the mound. He used his entire arsenal very effectively. Suárez threw 97 pitches — 24 sinkers, 23 four-seam fastballs, 21 curveballs, 15 cutters and 14 changeups. He landed 62 of his 97 pitches for strikes. In total, Suárez struck out eight batters while walking two and allowing just two hits across six innings of work.

Notes

It was two years ago today that Alec Bohm made a series of defensive errors, causing him to say some words that people still remember to this day. So it’s only fitting his sweet, sliding catch in foul territory was the final out of the game.

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