Suárez locked in with 6 scoreless IP, career-high 12 K's vs. Mets

PHILADELPHIA -- Consider Ranger Suárez ready for October.

The Phillies southpaw stifled a potential postseason foe for the second straight start and Kyle Schwarber joined the 50-homer club in Tuesday night's 9-3 victory over the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. The victory pushed Philadelphia's (85-60) lead over New York (76-69) atop the NL East to nine games with 17 to play.

Suárez racked up a career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing only one hit over six scoreless innings against the Mets. Half of those 12 strikeouts came against the Mets' star duo of Juan Soto and Pete Alonso, each of whom went 0-for-3 with three K's against Suárez.

“It feels great,” Suárez said of setting a career high. “I don't usually strike out a lot of guys, I'm more of a pitch-to-contact guy. But every time we got into two-strike counts, we try to put them away -- and we were able to do that today.”

Suárez’s career night came on the heels of another six-scoreless-inning start last Thursday against the NL-leading Brewers in Milwaukee. But rising to the occasion is nothing new for Suárez.

The left-hander now has a 1.69 ERA in nine starts this season against teams currently in postseason position. That's less than half of Suárez's 3.52 ERA in 14 starts against opponents outside the playoff picture.

That should come as no surprise for a guy who has a 1.43 ERA over 37 2/3 career postseason innings. The only pitchers with at least five career postseason starts and a lower ERA than Suárez are Sandy Koufax (0.95), Ian Anderson (1.26) and Wild Bill Hallahan (1.36).

Is it safe to say Suárez gets up a bit more for marquee matchups?

“Yeah, I think he does,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “I don't know, but yeah, he's a guy -- I've said it many times -- the heartbeat never changes. When he's on, he's really something.”

Suárez has rediscovered his early season form following a one-month blip from mid-July to mid-August. After putting up a 6.59 ERA in five starts from July 20-Aug. 12, the lefty has a 0.88 ERA in five starts since.

Suárez has racked up double-digit strikeouts in three of those past five starts. He had just two such outings in his first 111 career starts.

“Unbelievable,” said third baseman Otto Kemp, who hit one of the Phillies’ three homers. “I mean, he makes it easy for us, but it's special. Just a special pitcher.”

Suárez’s recent turnaround has been an encouraging sign given his struggles down the stretch in recent seasons. He had a 5.65 ERA in an injury-hampered second half last season, and he put up a 4.57 ERA following the All-Star break in 2023.

“I just want to finish this season as strong as I can,” Suárez said. “We all know I've had issues during the second half for the past couple years, so what's on my mind is to just finish it off strong and as best as I can this year.”

Things won't get any easier for Suárez, whose next start is lined up for Monday against the Dodgers in Los Angeles in what could be yet another postseason preview.

Thomson expects Suárez to once again be up for the challenge.

“Masterful, really,” Thomson said of Suárez’s outing against the Mets. “He kept everybody off-balance. All his pitches were good. His command was good. ... He was just really, really good.”