Playing under the threat of rain, the Philadelphia Phillies had a chance to sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks out of town on Sunday afternoon. They had already secured their third consecutive series win, but a three-game sweep to finish the homestand 5-1 would have been sweet.
The Phillies turned to left-hander Ranger Suárez, who made his much-anticipated season debut after beginning the season on the 15-day IL with back soreness. Alas, the victory was not meant to be.
Ranger Suárez’s season debut didn't go exactly as planned for Phillies
Suárez struck out two in a clean, 12-pitch first inning. He never made it out of the fourth inning, however, after struggling to command his stuff out of the stretch. He was charged with seven earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. The 29-year-old gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out six. It was the most runs he had allowed since his second start in the majors in 2018, per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Phillies mounted a comeback, forcing extra innings, but it wasn't enough after Suárez put them behind the 8-ball early on.
"It just looked like he lost his command getting out of the stretch, leaving his breaking ball up, changeup up," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after the Phillies' 11-9 loss, per Seidman. "I don't think he had many baserunners in his rehab starts. But he's better than that and he will be."
While Suárez looks to figure things out as a member of the rotation, Taijuan Walker will do the same in the bullpen. The Phillies moved the veteran right-hander out of the starting five, even though he filled in admirably over the first month of the season.
Suárez might have fans second-guessing Taijuan Walker's move to bullpen
Suárez regaining his spot in the rotation is a no-brainer, but fans will nonetheless second-guess the decision to remove Walker, who pitched to a 2.54 ERA through six starts. Because, as fans, that's what we do.
The Phillies teased everyone last week with the possibility of keeping Walker in the rotation and using six starters, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. But that was a short-lived idea. A six-man rotation would mean fewer starts for others like Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo, and leave the already shaky bullpen short-handed. Neither would make much sense at this point in the season.
On Saturday, the Phillies activated Suárez and sent right-hander José Ruiz to the 15-day IL with surprising neck spasms. So now Walker will take Ruiz's place and try to figure out how to pitch as a reliever. He has a 4.56 ERA in 23 2/3 relief innings in his long career. Much of that damage came in the 9 2/3 innings he pitched out of the bullpen last year, when he posted a 6.52 ERA.
Even Walker knows that the move to the bullpen was the only move with Suárez coming back.
“We’ll see what they say,” Walker told media last week about his desire to stay in the rotation, per Zolecki. “Ranger coming back is such a bonus for us. He’s such a good pitcher. I know we miss him in our rotation. We’ll see what happens. It’s always a good problem to have when you have guys throwing the ball well, especially in the starting rotation.”
Despite not being a starter right now, the Phillies are banking on Walker continuing to pitch how he has so far this season as a long man who can eat up innings. Let's hope it works out.