PHILADELPHIA -- Maybe the Phillies finally found somebody to put an end to their ninth-inning meltdowns.\n\nMaybe
“Just like any other night,” Suárez said through the team’s interpreter. “I just went out there, got on the mound, and I knew that I had to just take care of what I usually do, which is take care of my command and throw the ball in the strike zone.”
It was the first save of Suárez’s career. It looked like his 200th.\n\n“He’s got such a slow heartbeat,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “I’ve brought him in some pretty tough situations this year with runners on, and he’s done a really good job. But Ranger is not a guy that’s going to reach for extra. That’s the thing. He’s going to just make pitches, and that’s what he did again tonight.”\n\nSuárez chuckled when told about Girardi’s “slow heartbeat” comment.\n\n“It’s not really that I have a slow heartbeat,” he said. “It’s that I honestly trust in myself. I have plenty of confidence in all my pitches, my talent and what I can do to help this team.”
Suárez is 4-2 with a 0.85 ERA in 19 appearances this season. He typically pitches multiple innings because he is a former starter. Those types of relievers are valuable. But the Phillies cannot be picky about their bullpen roles right now. They need a closer. They have 22 blown saves in 80 games, already just three shy of the franchise-record 25 set in 2004.\n\nNot all of them have come in the ninth inning, of course. But many have.\n\nThe Phillies opened the season with
“Tatis is a guy that you have to be able to make pitches in locations, or he’s going to kill you,” Girardi said. “You’ve got Cronenworth, who’s left-handed. You’ve got Machado, who’s another guy you’ve got to make pitches to. I just thought it fit best to bring Ranger in.”\n\nSuárez threw 13 pitches. Nine were strikes.\n\nHe got Tatis to fly out to center on a 2-2 changeup. He struck out Cronenworth looking on a 0-2 sinker. He got Machado to pop out in foul territory on a 2-2 changeup to end the game.
“That’s what Ranger does, man,” Phillies right-hander
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