Ongoing offensive struggles were the primary reason the Boston Red Sox dropped this week’s series to the Philadelphia Phillies.

But Thursday’s series finale also included several unexpected pitching decisions from interim manager Chad Tracy.

First, pulling starter Ranger Suarez after 5 1/3 scoreless innings and just 76 pitches. Then sending top right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock face the bottom third of the Phillies order in the seventh, and deploying rookie left-hander Tyler Samaniego to face the top third in the following frame, rather than veteran closer and fellow southpaw Aroldis Chapman.

Thursday was yet another gem by Suarez, who hasn’t allowed a run in his last 19 innings and five scoreless performances in his last six starts. He had a perfect game bid through 3 2/3 innings and a no-hitter through the end of the fourth.

Yet Suarez also missed his last turn in the rotation after leaving his May 3 start in the fourth inning due to right hamstring tightness. The new Sox southpaw avoided a stint on the injured list, but didn’t throw much in between starts, and Tracy said could tell his starter was tiring by the fifth.

“We had felt like even prior to that last inning he was starting to fatigue a little bit,” Tracy said. “And based on the fact that he hadn’t thrown in 11, 12 days, it felt like that was the right time to cut it.”

Chapman warmed up in the Boston bullpen before the top of the eighth, but with his teammates continuing to not score, Tracy stuck by his game plan. Samaniego went to the mound to face Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

“With Chappy today we had talked like, we’ll going to use him only in a save situation,” Tracy said of Chapman. “Really, too, the way we’ve been going offensively, it’s like, let’s get another zero. How many zeros can we put up to see if we can give ourselves a chance to lead? And if you’re down Chappy, you’re going to use Sammy. The lane for Sammy is there.”

Samaniego, known in the clubhouse as ‘Sammy,’ saw his streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings to begin his major league career end in the top of the eighth. He gave up the first two runs the Phillies scored in the contest, on a towering go-ahead two-run homer by Schwarber.

Tracy didn’t want the rookie left-hander to be too hard on himself about the ‘Schwarbomb.’ After all, Schwarber was already MLB’s home run leader before he went yard Thursday night, which also marked seventh consecutive game with a round-tripper.

“I mean, he’s got (18) home runs now on May (14),’ Tracy said. “He’s tough against left or right.”