Slugging a Ranger: Phillies 5, Pirates 1

Slugging a Ranger: Phillies 5, Pirates 1

The biggest source of anxiety with the Philadelphia Phillies early on this season has been their lack of power and extra base hits. They entered Thursday night’s game with a collective .343 slugging percentage and their longest streak without an extra base hit in two years. They exited the game with three home runs and a 5-1 win.

That aforementioned streak was snapped by Alec Bohm on the second anniversary of his infamous “I hate this place” game. Bohm took a curveball from Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones into the bullpen, just over the outstretched hand of Michael A. Taylor, for his first home run of the season. The Phillies third baseman would later cap off the anniversary celebration with a sliding grab for the final out in the ninth.

Brandon Marsh added a home run of his own in the bottom of the seventh, a two-run shot to left center field that was originally ruled a double but changed on review. Marsh now leads the team with 4 HRs and a .998 OPS. Nick Castellanos would then reach second base after right fielder Edward Olivares dropped a fly ball. This allowed Bryson Stott to rip a fastball deep to right for another two-run homer, his first of the season and the Phillies’ second of the inning.

The offense ensured that a brilliant effort from Ranger Suárez would not go to waste. The lefty had all of his pitches working as he went six shutout innings with 8 strikeouts while allowing two hits and two walks. It was the fourth start of Suárez’ career of at least six shutout innings and eight punchouts and first such start since 2022.

Suárez had excellent command of all of his pitches, generating a total of 12 whiffs on 97 pitches with 62 strikes. The sinker was the only pitch that did not generate a swing and miss, while the fastball, curveball, and changeup each had at least three. He also got some assists from his defense, including a diving grab by Bryce Harper at the first base line that robbed Oneil Cruz of possible extra bases to end the second inning. Despite this impressive defensive play, Harper finished the night 0-4 at the plate with two Ks and is now hitting .196 on the season.

Yunior Marte was first on in relief of Suárez and continued his strong start to the season. He allowed a single to Bryan Reynolds sandwiched in between three strikeouts of his own. Marte has not allowed a run in 6.2 IP on the season and has allowed just two hits with 7 Ks to two walks.

Nick Nelson finished off the next two innings and allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts, bringing the team total of 14 punchouts on the evening. It was the pitching staff’s sixth game already this season with at least 10 strikeouts, good enough for a tie for third most in the majors.

The Phillies will debut their City Connect jerseys tomorrow night at 6:40 in the second game of this series against Pittsburgh. Cristopher Sanchez will take on former Phillie Bailey Falter on the mound.