Phillies rally back from four-run deficit for a sloppy win over Marlins

PHILADELPHIA — It’s June 30 and the Phillies were playing the Miami Marlins, but this was a game they needed to win. Their manager said so himself. A series loss against Miami at home would’ve been tough to swallow and this has been a difficult stretch. There is a lot of discourse — understandably — about the hitters who aren’t here, rather than the hitters who are.

Rob Thomson hears it. He’s been asked about it virtually every day. But on Sunday, in a game that was not short on adversity, the Phillies grinded out a 7-6 win.

“That was a big one today,” Thomson said.

A lot went wrong. The Phillies committed a season-high five errors on defense, their most in a game since May 17, 2005. Cy Young Award candidate Ranger Suárez allowed six earned runs on nine hits with two walks and didn’t record a single strikeout.

The lineup went 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position. But sometimes those victories are the most fulfilling; the ones when nothing comes easy, but you figure it out anyway.

“I think next man up is obviously what we’ve been talking about a lot,” said Trea Turner. “It was another day of our bullpen keeping us in the game. And giving our offense a chance to grind out those at-bats and come back. We chipped away every inning. It wasn’t just one big inning, it was each and every inning we had guys on base. So, up and down the lineup I think everyone contributed today. It was a good team win.”

Suárez did not look like himself on Sunday afternoon. His defense was not as smooth. His pinpoint command wasn’t there, and his velocity was slightly down. But perhaps the strangest of all was that Suárez recorded not one strikeout.

That was a first for him. According to MLB.com, Suárez had recorded at least one strikeout in all 82 of his previous career starts. But on Sunday, he struggled to induce whiffs.

The Marlins hit him hard. They made contact at 95 mph or harder eight times, according to Baseball Savant.

“I don’t look at myself as a pitcher who strikes out a lot,” Suárez said. “I pitch to contact, which we did today. So, I didn’t get strikeouts today, but you turn the page.”

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