Phillies starter Ranger Suarez was un-hittable over the first six innings against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, but his one mistake late in the ballgame was the difference maker in a 1-0 loss. In no way can this loss be pinned on Suarez. He was excellent over 7.2 innings allowing four hits with seven strikeouts. It was the Phillies offense struggling to find the clutch hit that was the biggest disappointment in Houston once again.
The Phillies offense looked inept against lefty hard-throwing left Astros lefty Framber Valdez, a pitcher who had their number during the 2022 World Series. Twice on Tuesday, Valdez induced critical ground ball outs to end Phillies scoring threats.
In the second inning, Otto Kemp walked and Edmundo Sosa singled to put two Phillies on with no one out. Buddy Kennedy grounded out, Johan Rojas struck out, and Trea Turner popped out to strand the Philly basesunners.
The best chance for the Phillies came in the fourth inning after Kemp reached base on a fielding error, while Sosa doubled to left. Kennedy’s ground ball to third base resulted in Kemp being thrown out at home before Johan Rojas filed out to center to end the inning. Philly managed only one hit after the fourth inning.
“I thought our approach was pretty good,” Rob Thomson said postgame via NBCSN Philadelphia. “We weren’t getting out of the zone much early. We had chances with second and third but it just didn’t happen”. Philly was 0-for-7 with runners-in-scoring-position (RISP) on Tuesday night.
Suarez was untouched through five innings before being tested in the sixth frame. The Phillies starter allowed the first two Astros to reach base before causing a ground ball for a double-play to slow things down before grabbing a strikeout to end the scoring threat.
In the eighth inning, Suraez’s lone mistake resulted in a 390-foot home run by outfielder Cooper Hummel for a 1-0 Astros advantage. That round-tripper was enough as the Houston bullpen locked things down behind the electric arm of Josh Hader for his 20th save on the season.
“You get shutout one-nothing, it’s a tough loss. We got to put it behind us,” Thomson said. “Get back here tomorrow and it’s a new ballgame.”
Phillies ace Zach Wheeler returns to the mound tomorrow looking for his eighth win of the year. Houston counters with another lefty, Colton Gordon, who is 2-1 with a 4.54 ERA this season. Game time is once again 8:10 PM EST.
Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images
