The Phillies’ offense mounted a late comeback with seven runs in the sixth inning or later Sunday afternoon but a series of small moments prevented them from pulling out a sweep over the Diamondbacks.
There was Ranger Suarez’ inability to stop the bleeding in the third and fourth innings of his season debut. His start began as smooth as possible with a pair of 1-2-3 frames but he allowed three runs in the third and four in the fourth, both rallies beginning with a walk of eight-hole hitter Garrett Hampson, not much of an offensive threat.
There was Alec Bohm bobbling a difficult grounder that cost Suarez and the Phils at least one run, maybe two.
There was J.T. Realmuto’s split-second decision to try to take third on a dropped third strike in the bottom of the seventh. He was nailed on a perfectly applied tag by Eugenio Suarez for the final out with the tying run on base.
“You never want to make the third out at third base and he knows that,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He came in and was mad at himself.”
And there was the slow exchange on a potential inning-ending double-play ball hit by Corbin Carroll in the top of the ninth. Carroll is one of the fastest players in the majors and it would have required a perfect flip from Bryson Stott to Trea Turner and an even better rocket to first base. Stott’s toss was high and Turner never got a grip on the ball, throwing it into the dirt. The next pitch was hit by Randal Grichuk for an RBI double. It would have been difficult either way, but if executed perfectly, the Phillies end the top of the ninth trailing by one rather than two.
“Stotty had a tough time getting it out of his glove and then Trea had a tough time getting it out of his glove too,” Thomson said. “Normally that’s a double-play ball.”
The lineup — Bohm, Realmuto, Stott and Turner included — put together plenty of good at-bats, particularly late. Bryce Harper snapped a home run drought of 62 plate appearances in the first inning and Weston Wilson hit a three-run shot in the sixth when the Phillies trailed by five, his first big knock since coming off the injured list on April 23.
Realmuto singled in Harper in the seventh to bring the Phillies within a run. Kyle Schwarber did the same with a two-out home run off Shelby Miller in the ninth. Nick Castellanos, Realmuto and Bohm followed with singles to tie the game.
The Phillies extended Jose Alvarado to a second inning and Arizona scored three times to win, 11-9. Schwarber grounded out hard with two aboard to end it.
Harper reached base three times but was annoyed with himself after striking out looking in the ninth and flying out to center as the winning run in the 10th.
“It got in on me a little bit. Just frustrated I couldn’t come through right there,” he said. “Obviously a big moment, big opportunity right there and couldn’t get it done.
“I’m just frustrated on a bigger level. Just want to come through for the team and play well. I’ve been through bigger ruts in my career, gone through ups and downs worse than what I’m on right now. Just frustrated for the fans, frustrated for the team. That last moment there against (Jalen) Beeks, not coming through right there, super frustrated for that. Just wanna play better, gotta play better. Just gotta be a better ballplayer.”
Harper did hit two balls hard and walk Sunday so he might be working his way out of the 6-for-42 slump he was in entering the afternoon.
It has come from necessity but Alvarado is probably being used too much. Sunday was his 16th appearance in 34 games, putting him on pace for 76. The Phillies don’t want any of their relievers reaching 70. He has also made three appearances already of more than one inning after not doing it once last season.
“It does (concern me) with all the guys, really,” Thomson said. “If we have to give him a couple of days after that, we will. That’s what we did the last time.”
The bullpen work before him was terrific. Orion Kerkering, Jordan Romano, Matt Strahm and Joe Ross combined for 4⅓ scoreless innings after Suarez allowed seven runs over 3⅔.
Making his first start in the Phillies’ 34th game after missing two months with a back injury, Suarez retired six in a row to begin the afternoon, striking out four. He was locating his sinker, fastball, changeup, curveball and cutter through two innings, missing bats with four of them and pitching almost artfully, the way things look for Suarez when he’s in sync.
It all fell apart once he had to pitch out of the stretch. Four consecutive Diamondbacks hitters reached base in a three-run third inning and five straight reached in a four-run fourth.
As rough as Suarez’ second half was last season, he didn’t have an outing quite this poor. The only time in his career he allowed more runs was his second start in the majors back in 2018.
His stuff looked fine, he just failed to command his pitches with men on base. Suarez averaged 92 mph with his sinker and four-seam fastball, his usual range. His slow hook was effective early, and he did a good job of pairing the mid-70s curveball with his low-90s fastball, at one point striking out Eugenio Suarez on a 93 mph heater after a 73 mph curve. The Phillies will hope this was just a matter of shaking off rust.
“It just looked like he lost his command getting out of the stretch, leaving his breaking ball up, changeup up,” Thomson said. “I don’t think he had many baserunners in his rehab starts. But he’s better than that and he will be.”
Suarez said it was less about rust and more about overthrowing out of the stretch, which he’ll work on in between starts. He will pitch next on Saturday in Cleveland.
The Phillies won the series and have gone 6-3 since being swept by the Mets last week but still haven’t gotten on an extended roll in any phase — offensively, defensively or with full-game pitching performances. The flipside is they’re on pace for 91 wins without having played close to their best baseball.
“I thought we fought,” Harper said. “It’s what you want. We could’ve just laid down and said we won the series already and we didn’t do that. Just really good, hard-fought. I know we lost but fought to the end.”
The Phils are off Monday before playing three games in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the Rays’ home for 2025 because of the devastation to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton. Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo will pitch in the series. From there, the Phils head to Cleveland, which like Tampa Bay has a bottom-third offense in runs scored and OPS.
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