Ranger Suárez dazzles as Phillies knock off Marlins
Coming off a loss the night before, the Phillies were in need of a bounce-back performance. Ranger Suárez was the right man to lead the charge.
The lefty pitched seven strong innings while Bryson Stott hit a three-run homer as Philadelphia (44-30) knocked off the Miami Marlins 4-2 on Wednesday night at loanDepot Park.
Both clubs were kept scoreless through the first three innings as Suárez and his counterpart, Marlins starter Adam Mazur, were both dominant during their first time through the order.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the Phillies broke through. J.T Realmuto got the party started, taking a first-pitch slider and smacking it through the hole between the third baseman and shortstop to score Nick Castellanos on an RBI single.
In the very next at-bat, Stott broke the game open. Like Realmuto, Stott wasted no time by swinging at a first-pitch 94 mph heater and sending it 396 feet deep to center field, bringing home Max Kepler and Realmuto in the process. The homer was Stott’s first since May 17 and could be the sign of an offensive turn around, as the second baseman’s batting average sat at .135 during the month of June coming into Wednesday’s game.
The four runs was more than enough run support for Suarez. Like he has done all season, Suarez picked apart the Marlins batting order. In his seven innings of work, the southpaw tied his season high in strikeouts with eight while allowing only four hits, two walks and a run. The lone blemish on his ledger came in the fifth inning, a solo shot off the bat of Connor Norby which ended Suarez’s scoreless innings pitched streak at 19 1/3.
The outing was a stellar addition to Suárez’s dominant 2025 campaign. The 29-year old extended his league-leading quality start streak to eight while lowering his ERA to 2.20. When removing Suárez’s disastrous first start of the season from his numbers, his ERA drops to a minuscule 1.17.
Mazur, making his Marlins debut, posted a respectable line. The 24-year old went 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs and five hits while striking out five batters and walking four.
After Orion Kerkering pitched a scoreless eighth, the ninth inning proved to be dicey. Matt Strahm came on for the save and allowed an RBI single to Dane Myers before letting runners reach first and second, bringing the tying run to the plate in Nick Fortes.
Down to his last strike, Fortes hit a ball to right field that carried all the way to the fence before Castellanos was able to track it down, bumping into the fence after the catch and securing the win for the Phillies. Strahm earned his fourth save on the season while Suárez was credited with his sixth victory on the mound.
Having already clinched a series split, the Phillies will look to win the series in the finale on Thursday night when Cristopher Sánchez takes the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.