Ranger Suárez and Phillies shut down Braves in series-opening win

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 27, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — When help arrived, Bryce Harper was down on one knee on the grass in front of the Phillies’ dugout, cradling his right elbow, doubled over in agony.

It looked … bad? No, that isn’t nearly strong enough.

Let’s try this: season-altering.

Because the Phillies emerged from Memorial Day with the best record in baseball. And like the charcoal on backyard grills, Harper is only just starting to heat up. It’s coming. Wait for it.

And then, wham. One inning into a three-game showdown with the rival Atlanta Braves, Harper took a fastball from flame-throwing Spencer Strider off the surgically repaired right elbow and disappeared into the dugout, down the tunnel, and into an X-ray machine.

But while 40,627 patrons in Citizens Bank Park held their breath — exhaling only to boo at the mere sight of Strider — Max Kepler doubled in a run, Ranger Suárez dazzled for six innings and the Phillies eked out a 2-0 victory.

Oh, and Harper’s X-rays: negative.

The Phillies diagnosed Harper with a bruise, according to a mid-game announcement by the team. They also averted a crisis and raised their record to 35-19, 9 1/2 games clear of the third-place Braves in the National League East.

Apart from the scare involving Harper, the Phillies won with a formula that is becoming increasingly familiar: standout starting pitching.

Making his fifth start since returning from spring-training back stiffness, Suárez controlled the game. He mixed five pitches like ingredients in a smoothie and scattered four hits — all singles; two with two out.

Only once did things get even a little hairy against Suárez. In the fifth inning, he loaded the bases on a leadoff single and a pair of two-out walks.

But pitching coach Caleb Cotham visited the mound before Suárez faced lefty-slugging Matt Olson. Suárez attacked Olson with a sinker and cutter, both of which were fouled off. J.T. Realmuto called for an elevated fastball. Suárez threw one above the zone, and Olson chased it for strike three.

The Phillies scored only one run off Strider but forced him to throw 90 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. Alec Bohm worked a leadoff walk in the second inning and scored from first base on Kepler’s double off the right-field wall. It was the lone hit off Strider, not counting the shot off Harper’s elbow.

Realmuto, dropped to eighth in the batting order, worked a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning to force home an insurance run.

Even so, slim leads in the late innings are supposed to be extra tenuous for the Phillies since reliever José Alvarado got suspended for flunking a drug test. But Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and resurgent Jordan Romano passed the baton for the final nine outs.