Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez exited his begin in opposition to the Cardinals this night after simply two innings of labor after he was struck within the hand by a 106 mph line drive off the bat of outfielder Alec Burleson. As famous by Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies initially termed the damage a left hand contusion earlier than sending him for testing throughout the recreation. Supervisor Rob Thomson instructed reporters (together with The Athletic’s Matt Gelb) shortly after the sport that x-rays on Suarez’s hand have been destructive, though he was coping with some swelling.
It’s not at the moment clear if Suarez’s hand will get well shortly sufficient for him to make his subsequent begin, though Thomson steered that they “really feel fairly fortunate” to have seemingly dodged a extra critical damage. The supervisor added that the membership at the moment plans to offer Suarez a couple of days earlier than figuring out whether or not he’ll make his subsequent begin or if he’ll require a visit to the injured checklist. The lefty is at the moment slated to make his subsequent begin on June 8 in opposition to the Mets as a part of the London sequence. Due to the 2 days off the crew can have previous to the beginning of that sequence, Suarez was already slated to make his subsequent begin on further relaxation.
The truth that Suarez seems to have averted a serious damage is unquestionably an enormous reduction for Phillies followers. The 28-year-old hurler has been among the many absolute best pitchers in all of baseball this yr with a sterling 1.75 ERA by his first eleven begins this season, trailing solely Reynaldo Lopez and Seth Lugo. That determine is nice for a whopping 230 ERA+, and Suarez has loved spectacular peripherals that largely again up his wonderful efficiency. In 72 innings of labor so far within the season, Suarez has struck out a career-best 28.4% of batters confronted whereas strolling simply 5.4% and producing grounders at a whopping 53.8% clip. Amongst certified pitchers, that groundball fee ranks seventh within the majors whereas Okay-BB% of twenty-two.5% ranks twelfth.
Given how extremely productive Suarez has been for the Phillies so far within the season as they’ve surged to an MLB-best 41-18 file, even a quick absence for the lefty can be a noteworthy blow. Luckily for the membership, nonetheless, they’ve an tailored alternative possibility out there to them within the occasion that the lefty does miss a begin or two. Proper-hander Spencer Turnbull took the ball for 3 spectacular innings following Suarez’s exit, permitting no hits and no walks whereas hanging out six batters. That sensational efficiency in reduction tonight continues what has been a robust season in Philadelphia for Turnbull.
Coming into play tonight, the righty had made twelve appearances for the Phillies together with six begins and pitched to a improbable 2.40 ERA with a 3.43 FIP in 41 1/3 innings of labor. Whereas Turnbull was pushed out of the rotation by the return of right-hander Taijuan Walker from the injured checklist earlier this yr, the righty has remained an impact multi-inning reduction possibility for the Phillies and after a 49-pitch outing this night may fairly take the ball for an abbreviated begin instead of Suarez on Saturday in London if mandatory.
