Ranger Suárez struggles again vs. Braves

Final Score: Braves 7, Phillies 2

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said before Friday’s game that Ranger Suárez was on a pitch limit.

“Of course, everyone has a pitch limit,” he said with a smirk.

Suárez, in his first start off the injured list, threw 72 pitches and pitched five brilliant innings against the Kansas City Royals. It looked like the Phillies (79-56) were going to get a repeat of this performance early on, but the Braves eventually got to him.

After starting the game with five straight strikeouts, Suárez was out after four innings and 78 pitches, allowing four earned runs, including back-to-back solo home runs to Orlando Arcia and Sean Murphy.

Suárez’s ERA against the Braves this year is now 7.71. Against all other opponents, Suárez has a 2.44 ERA. His season ERA (3.02) is above three for the first time since April 11.

On the other side, Reynaldo Lopez’s dominance over the Phillies continued. Through three starts, Lopez has allowed two earned runs through 17 innings against Philadelphia.

The lead is back down to five in the NL East. The win for Atlanta means the Braves have now clinched the season series against the Phillies. Keep that in mind if the division race gets tight at the end.

Highlights

• After two dominant frames from Suárez to begin the game, the Braves got on him with back-to-back solo home runs from Arcia and Murphy.

• Atlanta doubled the lead in the fourth on a pair of RBI groundouts. They made Suárez throw 24 pitches in the inning. Some great play at third base from Edmundo Sosa kept the damage at two.

• Bryson Stott made it 4-1 with a solo home run to right field, his 10th of the season.

• Arcia hit his second home run of the game in the sixth inning off Max Lazar. It’s the first run allowed by Lazar in his big league career. It’s also the first hit he has allowed against a right-handed batter in the majors. They added on another in the inning on an RBI double by Gio Urshela.

• J.T. Realmuto’s solo home run to lead off the seventh ignited some positive vibes, but the Phillies weren’t able to build off of it.

Notes

• This was a rough slide from Harper after his third-inning double.

• On the same day Harper spoke to MLB.com‘s Todd Zolecki about his nagging wrist and elbow, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
• Kyle Schwarber is really struggling. He struck out three times tonight and has only eight hits in his last 58 at-bats.
• Despite having a relatively comfortably five-run lead, the Braves were aggressive with their bullpen in the seventh and eighth inning by using Pierce Johnson and Joe Jimenez. The Realmuto home run ended up being the only run against the pair, but the Phillies did make Johnson and Jimenez throw 25 and 32 pitches respectively. That could matter later in the series.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Saturday, Aug. 31 vs. Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park
• 7:15 p.m. EST
• FOX
• 94 WIP

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