McCaffery: Ranger Suarez gives Phillies an ace up their sleeve

PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler has about 75 pitches left in his tender right arm for this baseball season, 70 that might represent his true talent, another five he’d best hope the wind knocks down.

Aaron Nola is tired, or at least that’s how it seemed in his last start, when his location was too crooked and his curve ball was not crooked enough.

Kyle Gibson is undependable, Noah Syndergaard has to show he can be a legend again and Bailey Falter did just that in the NLCS, which is why he is not on the Phillies’ World Series roster.

Nothing on that starting-pitching progress report necessarily means catastrophe for Rob Thomson or anyone else’s ballclub in November, when there barely is one elbow that can’t use a deep ice-bucket dive. But it does holler that it’s all-hands-on-deck time, including any that might or might not be smeared with illegal goo. And as one of the most stupefying seasons in Phillies history rolls to a conclusion, it does shout that one Ranger Suarez has become the pitching key to the whole thing.

Not only was Suarez asked Tuesday to preserve the Phillies’ home field advantage in a turning-point Game 3 series start, but everything from rain to Rob Manfred’s cockeyed scheduling to the usual way pitching rotations tumble had conspired to cast him as the Phillies’ starter in a possible Game 7 Sunday in Houston. After all of that – after the Joe Girardi follies, the losing streaks, the winning streaks, the meaningful in-season roster moves and the champagne baths – the 26-year-old who has had more career relief appearances than starts had unofficially elevated to an ace.

“Ranger doesn’t get nervous,” Thomson said. “He’s a pretty calm character. You saw what he did in Game 5 of the Padres series. I mean, it just doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter the game state, the inning, what the score is or what his role is.

“He just goes out and pitches.”

For Game 3, the stakes were obvious and Suarez just pitched brilliantly. A hair fortunate they hadn’t fallen into an 0-2 hole considering how Nola and Wheeler sputtered in Texas, the Phillies could not be backed into needing to win three of the final four games, including a possible two on the road. And while they were earning a nice reputation for an unwillingness to go quietly, at some point the burden of overcoming deficits becomes too heavy against the great teams.

Bryce Harper’s late-inning “We’re not losing” promises may be of bumper-sticker quality, but that audacity doesn’t work that way forever, not in that sport. But as for a starting pitcher, he can make it work. And Suarez was determined Tuesday to provide that tutorial in his first World Series start.

“Ever since I was a kid,” he said, “it’s been a dream of mine.”

That showed early when he needed a total of two pitches to subdue Jose Altuve and another seven, including a sharp curve ball, to strike out Yordan Alvarez hacking. And after Harper gave him a cushion with a two-run homer to right in the bottom of the inning, Suarez responded with a shut-down second despite allowing two soft, bouncing singles.

By the time Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh went deep in the bottom of the inning, Suarez was already in do-no-harm mode. Just the same, he elevated that to ace mode, efficiently suppressing a lineup that was good enough to win 106 times in the regular season. Though Thomson was unlikely to use him much past 80 pitches anyway, a seven-run lead convinced him to lift Suarez after five shutout innings. The left-hander allowed three hits and a walk, struck out four and threw 48 of his 76 pitches for strikes. And on not one of those pitches did he seem ill-adapted for the moment.

“I just try to go out there and have fun,” Suarez said. “That’s really what I try to do when I go play baseball.”

Even if Suarez were to sputter Tuesday, the Phillies had Nola, who has shed a reputation as a late-season risk, ready for Game 4. But the difference between needing him to effectively salvage a season and putting a 3-1 death grip on a possible world championship is immense, especially for a pitcher who may have begun to wheeze.

“I don’t think any of us is really fatigued,” Nola said. “I think the World Series gets you amped up a little bit more and makes the body feel good, especially when you step out on the field in front of all these people and this crowd.

“Honestly, the last thing that’s been on my mind is fatigue. The body feels good. My arm feels good. So that’s all that matters right now.”

Nola has been an ace, and he must pitch like one Wednesday.

Wheeler has been an ace, and he might have to milk one more star-level start out of his stressed elbow.

And if there is to be a Game 7, there will be Suarez. With five of the most critical innings of a pennant-winning season Tuesday, he has shown he can make it three of a kind.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com