Aug 12, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) walks off the field during a pitching change in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Ranger Suarez hadn't pitched well since the All-Star game. In fact, in his last start in Cincinnati, the one where he lost his well-noted cool and started chirping at home plate umpire Willie Traynor, he was having a hard time even touching 90 MPH on the radar gun.
But then the Phillies found out the news about Zack Wheeler. The uncertainty of when he might be able to pitch again was a distant second to his personal health. This wasn't just some arm injury that pitchers endure at some point in their career. This was something far scarier than that. This wasn't an injury. This was something that could be life-altering.
But when you think about it from a baseball perspective, it's one of those things that can go one of two ways - it either crushes a team or it galvanizes them to be at their best. There is no middle ground to suddenly taking one of the best pitchers in the sport out of the mix six weeks before the playoffs are set to begin.
As he was walking into Citizens Bank Park to make his next start on Monday, this was on Suarez's mind.
"I was thinking - and maybe it's what we were all thinking as a starting staff - is that we lost a great pitcher," Suarez said through a team interpreter. "We lost a great player. We just have to do our best and perform as best we can so we can try to fill those shoes."
A few hours later, after throwing 102 pitches, Suarez walked off to an ovation from the sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park in what would eventually be a 12-7 Phillies victory.
Big ovation for Ranger Suárez as he exits in the seventh. He held Seattle to one run on four hits, striking out 10. Jordan Romano inherits a runner on first. pic.twitter.com/IMdtgAANHD
The final score was not an indicator of Suarez's effectiveness. He pitched 6 2/3 innings. He would allow two earned runs. He only gave up four hits. He matched a career high in strikeouts with 10. He shut out Seattle for the first six innings. He looked sharp. He looked in control. This was the guy that had given the Phillies 12 quality starts in a row earlier this season and who could have been named an All-Star.
He had more life on his pitches. He threw with greater velocity. Both his fastball and his sinker touched 92 MPH and they got stronger as the game wore on - his final pitch of each of the fifth and sixth innings hit 92 and were strikeout pitches. He threw his cutter harder than he had in several games. It was an effective pitch.
"I think my breaking ball works better with a little more velo on it," Suarez said. "That's what we were working on before this start because the last time out in Cincy, the cutter didn't have much life to it. He didn't have much velo to it. So having more velo on my breaking stuff makes it better."
Maybe it was the work he did between starts. Maybe it was the extra day of rest the Phillies gave him that made him more sharp and less fatigued in-game.
Or maybe it was just a renewed sense of purpose with the Wheeler situation.
In reality, it was probably a combination of all three, but for one night, against a very good Seattle lineup, Suarez was superb.
Ranger Suárez ties his career high with his 🔟th K of the night! pic.twitter.com/mz7aWUDwu7
"He was really good," manager Rob Thomson said. "Really good. It was his best start in a while. ... The command was really good."
With so much uncertainty about Wheeler, the Phillies need this version of Suarez. If they are going to damn the torpedoes and still make a run at that elusive World Series win, the idea of doing it without Wheeler is a daunting one, but it becomes more realistic if Suarez is pitching at his highest level.
Everyone is going to have to step up - whether it's the offense posting 21 hits in a game for the first time at home since 2009, or the bullpen getting more important outs than it did during the first four months of the season, or its starters like Suarez pitching like the All-Stars they can be. It's going to be a team effort.
"We love Zack, man," said Bryce Harper, who hit two monster home runs in the win. "He's one of our guys in here. He's one of our leaders. One of the heartbeats that makes us go every fifth day. He's been one of the best pitchers in baseball the last five, six, seven years so, he's irreplaceable, man. ... But obviously Zach wants us to go out there and play our game and be good and get deep in the playoffs and win a World Series."
The first step toward doing that is to make sure the rest of the starting staff is up to the task to fill the massive void.
For one night, Suarez showed he's up for that task.
