Suárez, Phillies hit speed bump in 'weird' series loss vs. Rox

DENVER -- Ranger Suárez entered Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Rockies on a historic run to begin the 2024 campaign -- he was, after all, the first starting pitcher in 58 years, and the fourth since earned runs became an official stat in both leagues in 1913, to begin a season 9-0 with an ERA under 1.50 (1.36) in his first 10 starts.

But when it was all said and done, Suárez was just happy to leave Colorado in one piece, and the Phillies were just happy to leave.

With a 5-2 loss on Sunday, Philadelphia lost its first series since dropping two of three against the Reds from April 1-3. And in losing two of three against the Rockies, the Phillies’ bats were mostly dormant -- outside of a six-run ninth inning in Saturday’s win, the lineup produced only six runs in the three-game set at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

With Suárez on the mound, the Phillies certainly liked their chances of winning their 39th game of the season before heading to San Francisco for three with the Giants and returning home to wrap up the month of May. But the left-hander faltered early, giving up five runs over the first two innings.

In the fourth, Suárez was very nearly hit in the head by a 110 mph line drive off the bat of Elehuris Montero.

After dodging the ball by perhaps an inch or two, Suárez fell on the mound and rolled onto the grass to his left. He stayed on his back for several seconds, coming to terms with what had just happened and realizing that he was no worse for wear.

“I was just thanking God for being OK after that,” he said through a team translator. “I’m very happy to be well and healthy at this point. It’s part of the game, but I definitely thank God after that play, to end up being well.”

Some might assume that the specter of Coors Field might have gotten to the left-hander, who took his first loss in 11 starts this season. But Suárez said it was just a bad day.

“For the first two innings, I didn’t have command of my changeup or my curveball and my fastball wasn’t going for strikes, either,” he said. “So I think that was the game right there.”

It was. Ryan McMahon took the first pitch he saw from Suárez and deposited it into the Rockies’ bullpen beyond the wall in right-center field for a two-run homer in the first. In the second, Suárez issued four walks and gave up an RBI double to Hunter Goodman. An errant throw by third baseman Alec Bohm on an RBI grounder hit by Brendan Rodgers led to an unearned run also scoring on the play.

After a mound visit following Suárez’s fourth walk of the frame, he retired 13 in a row and got through six innings. But the damage had been done.

“I was trying to be too sharp with my pitches in the first two innings,” he said. “After that, I just adjusted and tried to throw the ball and not try to do too much with my pitches.”

Suárez kept Philadelphia in the game, but the Phillies had just five hits on the day, all singles. Much like Suárez’s assessment of his outing, hitters chalked it up to a bad day. And, really, a bad weekend -- aside from Saturday’s ninth-inning outburst, they hit .184 for the series.

“It’s just baseball,” said Brandon Marsh, who had two of the five Phillies hits on Sunday. “A lot of games to be played. [The Rockies] are a big league team for a reason. So they did their thing. We’ve just got to do better going into San Fran.”

“It’s just baseball” is a phrase similar to the one used by manager Rob Thomson after Friday’s loss, in which the Phillies also scored two runs: “That’s baseball.” Baseball has a strange way of being unpredictable amid the granular details of a season, such as a game or a series. But in the grand scheme, the Phillies hope this trip to Colorado was just a speed bump on the way to more success ahead.

“Just a little bit weird, right?” Thomson said after Sunday’s loss. “You come in here and you think that because of the thin air you’re going to score a bunch of runs and hit home runs. We didn’t have any slug today.

“It’s just one of those days. One of those weekends, I guess.”