Suarez wraps rookie campaign with solid outing

ANAHEIM -- It was a tough rookie season for 21-year-old left-hander José Suarez, but he concluded it with one of his better outings of the season against the division champion Astros.

Suarez went five-plus innings, allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out six in a 6-3 loss to Houston in the penultimate game of the season on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. He finishes his first season with a 7.11 ERA in 19 outings with 72 strikeouts, 33 walks and 23 homers allowed in 81 innings. It was only the second time he surrendered two runs or fewer in an outing of at least five innings this year.

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“That’s as good as Suarez has pitched all year," Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. "He was efficient. He threw up zeros for the first five innings."

Suarez was in control through the first five frames, scattering just two singles and a walk, but he came back out for the sixth at 75 pitches. Facing the top of the order for a third time, Suarez walked George Springer on six pitches before getting ahead of José Altuve with an 0-2 count. Altuve crushed an 0-2 fastball from Suarez for a two-run homer that chased Suarez from the game.

"I wanted to throw it higher than the pitch was, maybe a little bit out of the zone," Suarez said through an interpreter. "I feel like he was looking fastball and it went right in his wheelhouse."

Ausmus, though, still believes it was an encouraging outing from Suarez, who has worked hard this season to improve his mechanics and fix his pitch-tipping tendencies.

"I was a little torn,” Ausmus said of Suarez going back out for the sixth. "I wanted him to end on a good note, but I wanted him to keep pitching. After the Altuve two-run homer it was time to get him out so he could go into the offseason feeling good about his last outing.”

Suarez was pressed into Major League action ahead of schedule this season due to a lack of rotation depth, so while he’s seen his share of struggles, the Angels still believe he’s one of their better young pitching prospects.

“It was at times rough,” Ausmus said. “When he first arrived, he pitched pretty well, but then he had some rough outings. But the important thing is the experience. You can only get that at the Major League level, and hopefully that helps him going forward.”

Suarez displayed swing-and-miss stuff against the Astros, getting 13 whiffs, including eight with his fastball. His changeup remains his best pitch while he's still working to improve his slider and curveball.

"I showed up to the stadium today thinking to try to finish strong going into the offseason," Suarez said. "I just made my in-game adjustments and finished strong. I feel like my concentration was better and was staying with the same mechanics."

Suarez appears better off starting next year in Triple-A, as he continues to develop as a pitcher. The Angels are expected to be aggressive in their pursuit of starting pitching in free agency, which should slide Suarez down the depth chart and allow him to get more seasoning in the Minors.

"The biggest issue for us is command," Ausmus said of Suarez. "Not only when you’re missing and give up hits and home runs, but when you give up walks, and walks in front of hits and home runs, it creates lots of problems. He did, overall, have good command [Saturday], but all season long in terms of locating our pitches, I think we could do a better job.”