PHILADELPHIA — The response by Phillies starting pitchers to the Zack Wheeler news last weekend began with Ranger Suarez Monday. He delivered the capstone to a dominant week Sunday.
Suarez went seven shutout innings, allowing three hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts as the Phillies won the rubber match over Washington, 3-2.
Suarez bookended the week by doubling his career double-digit-strikeout performances from two to four. He allowed three hits, Jacob Young’s double with two outs in the third the only runner to safety touch second base.
“I think it’s commanding my pitches,” Suarez said via a translator. “I’ve had great command of my pitches for the past two outings. And I think that’s one of the keys that made me have good starts.”
Manager Rob Thomson lauded Suarez’s control even more than a velocity that ticked up to 94 miles per hour. He was especially effective to his glove side, getting pitches in to right-handed hitters.
The Phillies were left with question marks when doctors found a blood clot in Wheeler’s throwing shoulder. A procedure to remove it followed by a week of examinations led to Saturday’s diagnosis of venous thoracic outlet syndrome, which will precipitate surgery that ends his season.
On paper, a team with five competent starting pitchers behind their ace possessed options. But how would they step up to fill the void?
Suarez tossed 6.2 innings Monday, striking out 10 Mariners and allowing two earned runs. It would be the first of five quality starts this week; Suarez’s Sunday is the team’s 72nd of the season, 11 more than any other team. His consecutive starts with 10 or more strikeouts and no walks mark just the fourth Phillie and 44th big-leaguer to accomplish that feat since 1901.
Cristopher Sanchez allowed two earned runs and struck out 12 in 6.1 innings Tuesday. Jesus Luzardo allowed an earned run in six frames Wednesday. Taijuan Walker was the lone non-quality start, allowing three runs in five innings Friday, though he gave the Phillies a chance to win before Jhoan Duran’s blown save. Aaron Nola had a much-needed quality outing, going six innings and allowing three runs (two earned) Saturday.
All told, that’s 24 hits, six walks and 56 strikeouts in 37 innings with an ERA of 2.43. And a 4-2 record to put distance over the New York Mets in the National League East standings ahead of this week’s series in Queens.
The tone-setter was Suarez looking like the pitcher that has been occasionally dominant but alternately frustrating. He did that by getting back to being himself.
“I think it’s about learning from the rough starts,” Suarez said. “And lately, I’ve been watching videos from the past starts before the last two that I’ve had, and I saw myself, and I didn’t think that I was myself on the mound. It looked like I was kind of battling myself on the mound as I was pitching. I think it’s just relaxing a little more and enjoying the game a little more is what’s helping that.”
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A baseball season is long enough to find unlikely heroes. Sunday, it was Tanner Banks and Rafael Marchan grabbing the headlines.
Marchan, in just his fourth start this month, served a two-out, two-run double out of the reach of Dylan Crews in right in the second inning.
“I was ready for my pitch,” Marchan said. “I just want the pitch that comes to my comfortable zone. I know that he has runners on base and I was going to get a good pitch to hit. And I found it and hit a double.”
He walked an inning later with the bases loaded to make it 3-0, somehow the last offense the Phillies generated.
That’s three RBIs for a player who entered the game with six this season in 90 plate appearances, playing sparingly behind the red hot J.T. Realmuto.
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As for Banks, he was the fireman in the eighth. Jose Alvarado allowed a single and two walks without recording an out. Banks inherited a bases-loaded mess, induced a double play from James Woods that cut the deficit to 3-1, then got CJ Abrams to fly out to center.
It’s the latest big moment for Banks, the 33-year-old who arrived as a roster-filling acquisition in last August’s bullpen reshuffle. The lefty is 5-2 with a save, a 2.88 ERA and a WHIP of 0.958 in 56 appearances.
Alvarado’s suspension has pressed him into higher-leverage duty. Lefties have an OPS of .455 and an average of .167 against him, tough he’s also getting righties out.
“I think being able to throw pitches that move in and out, being able to throw a sinker as well as a cutter or a slider,” Banks said. “There’s … a couple pitches moving in, a couple of pitches moving away. So I’m not giving them the same look.”
Thomson called his emergence, “a godsend.” He’s been particularly good with inherited runners, stranding 14 of 23.
The Phillies now have three lefties in the bullpen. As roles adjust, Banks isn’t concerned about what it means for him. He’s occupied a number of niches, and he’s ready for whichever ones open next.
“We’re all going to be ready whenever the phone rings,” he said. “And whether that’s to face righties or face lefties or come in bases loaded, whatever it is, we’re all going to do our best to pick each other up because that’s what championship baseball looks like.”
Originally Published: August 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM EDT