PHILADELPHIA — The moment for the Phillies to strike came in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night. Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto all knocked in singles to load the bases for Kyle Schwarber with no outs. But Schwarber struck out, and it seemed like an all-too-familiar pattern was about to set in. Until the next at-bat.
Alec Bohm came up with another clutch hit, crushing a four-seam fastball to right field that scored both Harper and Castellanos. And then, in the at-bat after that, Johan Camargo followed Bohm with a hard-hit single of his own, driving in Realmuto to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.
The Phillies have struggled to capitalize with runners in scoring position throughout their first 13 games of the season, so Friday’s 4-2 win over the Brewers, which was won by them doing that exactly that, felt like somewhat of a breakthrough. They are now 6-8 on the season. Here are a few observations from Friday night’s win.
A solid outing for Ranger Suárez
Phillies left-handed pitcher Ranger Suárez found himself in some trouble early on Friday night against the Brewers. Suárez started the first inning by allowing a double and a single. Christian Yelich reached base on a fielder’s choice, which loaded the bases with no outs. But Suárez kept his calm. He struck out Hunter Renfroe, struck out Keston Hiura, and induced a groundout from Lorenzo Cain to end the first inning without allowing a run.
Suárez’s outing was solid from there on. His control wavered more than he would have liked it to — he allowed three more walks over the next 3 2/3 innings — but he was able to hold the Brewers to three hits and one run over that span. He ended up finishing his night at 4 2/3 innings pitched, four hits allowed, one earned run, three walks and four strikeouts.
Suárez has said in the past that in a normal regular-season game, he’ll start with the mindset of going deep (think seven, eight or even nine innings). But because the lefty is coming off of a shortened spring training, that was even shorter due to visa issues that caused him to arrive to camp late, he has had to be patient in ramping up his workload. Suárez went five innings in his previous outing, and just 2 2/3 in his outing before that.
A good day in the field for Nick Castellanos
The Phillies didn’t sign Nick Castellanos for his defense, but they certainly benefitted from it on Friday night. In the top of the third inning, Castellanos gunned a throw from right field to home plate that nearly arrived in time for J.T. Realmuto to tag Willy Adames out (and, to be fair, he could have been out, but manager Joe Girardi didn’t challenge the call). Castellanos followed that up with a terrific sliding catch in the top of the fourth inning to rob Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez of a sure base hit.
Castellanos is filling in at right field for Harper, who is DHing as he continues to nurse his right elbow strain.
