PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Girardi had many reasons to be furious in the ninth inning Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

First, Phillies closer Ian Kennedy threw a perfect 3-2 fastball to Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager with one out, but home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called the pitch a ball for a walk. Then, two batters later, Kennedy threw a perfect 3-2 curveball to Cody Bellinger, but Marquez called that pitch a ball for a two-out walk. It got Kennedy into a jam as he tried to protect a one-run lead in a game the Phillies desperately needed to win. If they lost, they would be swept, ruining the good vibes from their recent eight-game winning streak and possibly dropping them into third place in the National League East with 47 games to play.

So, Girardi, understanding the stakes, yelled a few things at Marquez, who ejected him. Girardi stormed onto the field to yell some more. But Kennedy recovered. He loaded the bases, but he got the final out to help the Phillies to a 2-1 victory.

• Box score

“I did learn one thing -- Ian Kennedy can get a five-out save,” Girardi said. “I learned that today, right?

“Those were huge pitches. Those were huge pitches. And they were perfect pitches, and pitchers are allowed to make them, and you don’t have to swing at them to be a strike.”

Kennedy never would have had the ball in the ninth if not for another strong start from left-hander Ranger Suárez, a homer from Bryce Harper, another clutch hit from Ronald Torreyes and another encouraging performance from Girardi’s most trusted relievers.

Suárez allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings in his third start since the Phillies moved him from the bullpen to the rotation. The team made the change because it needed competitive performances from the back of their rotation. Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, Kyle Gibson and Suárez have a combined 3.46 ERA (161 earned runs in 419 innings as Phillies starters) this season.

The other starters have a combined 6.34 ERA (123 earned runs in 174 2/3 innings).

Suárez has a 0.90 ERA (one earned run in 10 innings) in three starts since Kennedy joined the team as closer, moving Suárez out of the role.

Girardi entered the game planning to limit Suárez to 75 pitches. He pushed him to 82. He said the southpaw could throw 90 in his next start.

Then maybe he will pitch past 100.

“That’s what you work for as a pitcher,” Suárez said. “You just want to go out there and not have to worry about a pitch limit. You just want to go out there, let it loose, and see what happens. Attack hitters. Go through the lineup a few times.”

There is a lot made these days about position players being shuffled around the infield and outfield and pitchers being shuffled back and forth from the bullpen to the rotation. Some players and pitchers do not like it.

Suárez? Nothing seems to bother him.

“Going from not making the team to then being the long guy to then being a late-inning guy to then being our closer to now being one of the best starters in the National League,” Phillies right-hander Archie Bradley said about Suárez. “And I’m not afraid to say that right now. And I know he hasn’t gone deep into games, but you look at the stuff and just how easy it looks. When you guys watch me pitch, you can tell I’m working very hard to get guys out. When you watch Ranger pitch, it doesn’t look like he’s working very hard.”

“I just ran into him in the hallway coming from the trainer’s room and I told him that it’s incredible to watch him pitch,” Harper said. “In every single role that he’s been in for us the last two years, three years, he’s done an incredible job.”

Suárez put runners on first and second with one out in the fifth, when Girardi summoned right-hander Enyel De Los Santos (5.85 ERA) from the bullpen. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, and a fielder’s choice allowed a run to bring the Dodgers within a run of the Phils.

“I knew I was going to pinch-hit, and I felt I could get four innings out of my back guys,” Girardi said, explaining why he chose De Los Santos.

Héctor Neris pitched a scoreless sixth. He has a 1.45 ERA in 16 appearances since July 4. Bradley pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth. He has a 0.48 ERA in 17 appearances since June 27.

Kennedy got his “five-out” save. It was his third save with the Phillies.

If the Braves win on Thursday, the Phillies and Atlanta will be tied for first in the NL East. If the Braves lose, the Phillies will have a half-game lead over the Mets and a one-game lead over the Braves.

“This is going to be a dogfight,” Harper said.