Phillies 'encouraged' by healthy Suárez despite loss

MINNEAPOLIS -- Five losses in seven games does not change the fact the Phillies are a well-balanced team that is expected to upgrade the edges of its roster before the July 30 Trade Deadline.

Maybe the Phils find another late-inning reliever or two.

Maybe they get a right-handed-hitting outfielder.

• Check out the latest MLB trade rumors

The Phillies are not frantically searching for starting pitching because they have arguably the best rotation in baseball. It is a luxury. Still, everybody watched Ranger Suárez closely in Monday night’s 7-2 loss to the Twins at Target Field.

Suárez made his first NL All-Star team this year, but he posted an 8.62 ERA in his final three starts before the break. His velocity had dipped. He couldn’t command his pitches like he had earlier in the season.

Suárez revealed after his final start before the break that he had back spasms, keeping him out of the All-Star Game.

The Phillies hoped on Monday to see a much better version of Suárez following nine days of rest and recovery.

“I was encouraged,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said.

“I feel a lot better about it now,” manager Rob Thomson said. “And as we got closer to the start, I felt a lot better about it because he was doing his bullpen [sessions] and recovering, and it was good.”

Suárez allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Twins. He struck out four and walked one. His sinker averaged 91.6 mph, which is up from both his season average (90.9 mph) and his career-low 90 mph in his last start before the break. Suárez’s curveball generated five swings and misses, tied for his third-most whiffs on that offering this season.

Thomson said before the game that he hoped to see Suárez command his fastball to his glove side. He hoped to see more sharpness in the curveball.

“I felt good,” Suárez said via interpreter Diego D'Aniello. “When you’re healthy, you don’t have to worry about what’s hurting you. You can just focus on working. Today, it was just that. I think that I threw the pitches that I wanted. I think they were good pitches, with bad results.”

Suárez allowed his first run in the third inning when he walked No. 9 hitter Diego Castillo with one out. Castillo later scored on Willi Castro’s two-out single to center.

The Twins scored twice in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. Suárez allowed a bloop single to Max Kepler to start the inning before Castillo blooped a ground-rule double down the right-field line. Those balls were hit 78.1 mph and 72.7 mph, respectively.

Both runners scored on Manuel Margot’s hard-hit single to right field.

“The way the baseball moves out of his hand -- and I think there’s probably some deception in there, too, in the delivery -- is very impressive,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Suárez. “He can manipulate the baseball and make it do funny Wiffle ball-type things. You think of him as a sinkerballer [and] you think of him as a guy who’s going to get a bunch of groundballs, which is true, but it’s not just standing out there and throwing sinkers.

"He throws four-seamers when you start looking for the sinker. He can come in on you. He can cut it. He can do a lot. The slow breaking ball, in and of itself, is a really good pitch. He does a lot of different things, so to see our guys set up in a certain spot in the zone and just look for the ball in a certain place probably makes it a lot easier than just looking for one pitch -- and there’s a reason why he’s successful.”

So Suárez left the ballpark on Monday believing that he took a step in the right direction.

The Phillies hope so. They hope he can keep it up.

Suárez threw a career-high 114 innings in the first half. He has never thrown more than 155 1/3 innings or started more than 29 games in a season.

He should pass both numbers this year.

The key, though, is staying healthy and effective through the postseason.

“I’m confident,” Realmuto said. “I’ve never lacked confidence in Ranger. I think, obviously, he’ll probably throw the most innings he’s ever thrown this year, but I don’t see why he won’t stay strong through it and into the playoffs.”

The Phillies hope for the same with Zack Wheeler, too. He'll start Tuesday night for the first time since July 9 due to back spasms.